Farmers dig out from tonnes of volcanic ash, face uncertain future

KINGSTOWN – Farmers in St Vincent’s breadbasket region are counting thousands of dollars in losses after the decimation of their crops from the erupting La Soufriere volcano’s ashfall. The fallout could trigger food shortages and price hikes in Barbados, some market watchers said Friday.

In the villages of the island’s southern farming heartland, Mesopotamia Valley, life is once again springing forth from the earth. But for hundreds of root crops, bananas and other vegetables, it’s much too late.

Some growers hope and pray that with a reliable water supply slowly returning, they can revive their crops in time for export to Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago and elsewhere in CARICOM.

The eruptions have crushed the dreams of livestock farmers whose animals have been unable to graze in the valleys with some cattle perishing after consuming high amounts of ash.

At the Dumbarton Agricultural Station in Mesopotamia Valley, 13 kilometres (eight miles) east of the capital Kingstown, scores of farmers showed up with their special identification cards hoping to secure feed for their animals and plants from the government. But there were more farmers than there were bags of feed and it was unclear whether everyone received an equal portion.

Among them was Eric Clarke, who raises poultry, sheep and goats. He revealed that he is contending with losses in the region of about $3,700 (EC$5,000) and has been forced to slash the number of orders from Gale’s Hatcheries in Barbados.

“For me, I had some losses in terms of the livestock. I lost two sheep and a kid… they died from the dust and even some are allergic to the feed which I used when dust came on the pastures,” Clarke told Barbados TODAY.

“About half of what I make is from agriculture and I am looking at projections down the road. I want to get a freezer and equipment to store my things and that is looking bleak now because sales have gone right down. Before the volcano, I could have sold about 30 to 40 broiler chickens a day. Now I’m selling three and four, so it’s a hard hit.”

Also hoping to receive feed from the government was Gideon John from Mount Pleasant, Marriaqua in the south-central farming heartland, who specialises in both crop farming and livestock. The frustrated farmer said his goats, sheep and cows can hardly find grass because the ground is blanketed in ash.

John said: “My livelihood is farming and it will be very difficult for me now in terms of getting things up and running to take care of things like bills. It will be very difficult and it will take some time before we get back ourselves together.

“The carrots that I had… are covered in ash at the present time. In terms of ground provisions, all the leaves are covered. The whole place is covered in ash and it is very difficult and there is hardly any way for them to survive. The ash is even burning some of the leaves.”

In the neighbouring area of Carriere, James Stoney, a worker on the Collins Estate revealed that virtually all of the banana crop on the 18-acre farm was wiped out, just days before being prepared for export to Port of Spain.

“The damage is really bad and most likely 95 per cent of the bananas aren’t good. We were to cut some bananas to ship, but because of the eruption, we couldn’t really make it,” Stoney told Barbados TODAY on Friday.

“We are trying to take off some of the ash because there is a large amount, but the quality will not be so good, but we are still trying to see if they can still be exported,” said the farmer, who expects it will take another six months for the estate to recover.

Christine Thomas, who has been farming for decades in the area said plantains, dasheen and other vegetables have also been hard-hit.

“The plantain actually broke down and are damaged real bad and the cabbage. The ash really damage and spoil the crop. We really need to wash off them, but the water is also a problem.,” she said.

The bleak picture of the state of farming in the southern heartland, laden with ash though located inside the safe ‘green zone’, exposed the delicate food links between CARICOM neighbours and prompted fears of a likely shortage of fresh fruits, vegetables and some root and tuber crops here.

Barbados is among the Caribbean countries that depend on some food crops from St Vincent, 159 km (99 miles) to the west, with Barbadian vendors known to source a variety of fruits including mangoes and avocados, vegetables, yams, spice such as ginger and other produce from Kingstown on a weekly basis.

Chief Coordinator of the Eastern Caribbean Trading Agriculture and Development Organization (ECTAD Caribbean) Jethro Greene told Barbados TODAY the current situation surrounding the ashfall from the volcano has been compounded by the lack of water, making it difficult to say when farmers could even get back to work.

“We don’t even have enough water to drink much less to give to the plants,” he said, as he tried to paint the picture facing farmers.

“There are some goods going to Trinidad, but we will have a major negative problem because of the ash and it is the very dry season. So a lot of the things like plantain, bananas and so forth, have been affected. I just came from a small farm I have with some vegetables almost all of them have started to dry [up],” said Greene, pointing out that a full assessment is still to be carried out by agriculture officials.

He warned that Barbados and Trinidad could brace for a dramatic slowdown in food shipments since the immediate focus of many is on salvaging what they can to continue to sustain life in St Vincent. A fuller picture, he said, may become clearer in another week or two.

Greene said: “[Trade] would slow down tremendously. The farmers will have to try to eke out what they can in the next couple of months or so, but after that, you will have a very bad slowdown because of the ash and the quality of produce would be negatively affected.

“It is every week that they used to ship to Barbados and Trinidad but there has been a slowdown and I don’t know for how long. I am enquiring now when the shipment will go to Barbados and when goods are going to go to Trinidad.”

The ECTAD Caribbean chief said he was concerned about the lack of economic activity for Vincentian small farmers, pointing out that his agency was also awaiting payments from overseas shipments of roots and tubers to France, which have been stuck for several weeks in the UK because of “changing border rules between the UK and the EU” in the aftermath of Brexit.

A part of the focus now is to help farmers in the volcano safe zone in such areas as Marriaqua, Carriere and Mount Pleasant to increase production of nutritious food in an effort “to fill gaps with supply with safety as a priority”, he said.

Greene told Barbados TODAY: “While our small farm families in the orange zone and other safe zones are providing support of food supplies to shelters, the current ashfall has damaged crops and reduced the ability of production.

“Though we anticipate benefits from the ashfall in the future as it aids to strengthen the soil, our farmers are now seeking to find alternative means of continuing production safely.”

People are able to support by contacting ectadcaribbean@gmail.com or +784-453-1004, he said.

The heard of the Barbados Association of Vendors and Entrepreneurs (BARVEN), Alister Alexander, told Barbados TODAY he did not have a tally of how many tons of produce are imported from St Vincent on a weekly basis or how many farmers source items there.

But he conceded that there was expected to be some negative impact on the quantity of fruits and vegetables coming from the volcano-stricken island.

At the same time, he gave the assurance that cleaning up has been taking place at the vendor’s markets in Bridgetown since Wednesday “so we expect it to be fully ready for Saturday”.

Prime Minister Mia Mottley told Barbados TODAY she was aware the volcano activity would affect the island’s ability to source the usual fresh fruits and vegetables from St Vincent, adding that the ashfall was also expected to impact Barbados’ own production.

She said: “There is no doubt in my mind that it is going to hit both at the level of the household and at the level of those people who normally trade, coming out of St Vincent. There are a number of them I know that go all around the island selling produce.

“By the same token we have also to do our own assessment to see how this ash is going to affect our own crops and livestock and that is why I am getting the airport and the seaport fully functional again. It is absolutely critical so that we would have food coming in and would not in any way be suffering for a lack of food as a result of what is happening both in St Vincent and Barbados.”

Following the ashfall from the explosion at the La Soufrèire volcano last week, the Bridgetown Port had announced on Monday that its administrative buildings were closed for cleaning and that “only authorized essential personnel will be allowed access to the port during this time”.

“Mercifully, the port has done a great deal to clean up and it still has work to do, but the bottom line is that they have been cleaning all through the night and through the day and we were able to give out the perishables yesterday,” said Mottley. “And I believe sheds 2 and 4 should be open (Thursday) in order to start delivering personal effects to people once more.”

But when contacted, chief executive of the Barbados Agricultural Society (BAS) James Paul told Barbados TODAY the situation affecting St Vincent is unlikely to have a serious impact on the supply of crops for sale on the local market.

(kareemsmith@barbadostoday.bb)

(marlonmadden@barbadostoday.bb)