AGROFEST HAS BECOME a staple on the Barbados calendar of events.
It is the premier event for agriculturalists to showcase premium animals and plants but is also a platform for innovation in solar technology and more.
When the Street Beat team visited Queen’s Park on Wednesday, the setting up of stalls and other preparations were under way for today’s start.
Janet Howard and her son Caston were making sure their food stall would be ready. She said the deadline for stall preparation was the same evening so they had to be there. This is Howard’s fourth Agrofest and she has been growing bit by bit.
“I started with just things like fish cakes and sweet bread but now I sell pudding and souse, rice and peas, chicken, lamb and pork [among others]. I increased my offerings a little at a time as people asked for more things,” she said.
As a small farmer, Howard, who is a member of Women Entrepreneurs of Barbados, said she enjoyed raising animals and growing plants, something which she said she starting doing full-time five years ago. She said Agrofest was an ideal place for small business people to come and showcase their goods and services.
“I like the camaraderie and the interaction here. It is a good place for entrepreneurship and I would recommend Agrofest as well as farming on a whole to anyone interested. I want it to continue improving and getting better,” she said.
Gregory “Big G” Yearwood, owner of Big G’s Enterprises, whose food stall is somewhat larger than Howard’s, said he was often too busy to truly enjoy Agrofest.
“I have been a part of Agrofest since its inception . . . but in order to really enjoy it, I would have to not be a part of the stall aspect – it is too much hard work. My real enjoyment is that if the stall is profitable,” he said.
Despite this, Yearwood said Agrofest was a wonderful idea and he would continue to participate.
“I remember going to the Garrison when I was small when Carmeta Fraser used to do a similar thing so I would recommend Agrofest. There is no better place to advertise if you have a local business product,” he said.
Yearwood said the crowds attending the agricultural festival every year rivalled those at Crop Over and it was a good place for locals and tourists to enjoy “100 per cent Bajan food”.
While Owen “Bird” Cumberbatch did not actually have a stall at Agrofest, he was there setting up tents for other organisations to use. He said he had been doing so for the past three years and after he had set up all the tents he had been hired to do, he always came back to enjoy the exhibition – although his children usually had a part to play in that.
“My kids love Agrofest so I got to bring them. They come on the first day with their school and the last day with me,” he said.
However, the managing director of Bird’s Freighting and Tent Rentals said he too loved the festival and always ended up buying something.
“I don’t want to miss it; I like the animal show but every time I come, I end up buying plants.
“For me, Agrofest is a showcase for your products: what you do, what you have – you can show the world and if it gets into the international arena, well, you gone clear,” he said.
Cumberbatch said he loved Agrofest so much that he was considering operating his own stall, selling treats for children such as popcorn and cotton candy.
Innogen solar installers Randy Agard and Hakeem Kirton were placing 3-kilowatt solar panels on show. Agard said Agrofest was “the bomb” but admitted there was another showcase he liked even more.
“I like Agrofest. It’s a way for people to show off their arts and business and still make money as well as promote the island,” he said. “I like the animals and plants – the agricultural aspect but I really like the children’s part, showing them future careers and thing.
Agrofest is the bomb although BMEX (the Barbados Manufacturers’ Exhibition) is the double bomb.”
