Rescue plan for drought-hit farms

With worsening drought conditions threatening to take a major toll on farming, Government is pumping $20 million in aid to growers to practice climate-smart agriculture at the two main lease farms, River Plantation, St Philip and Spring Hall, St Lucy, Minister of Agriculture Indar Weir has told Barbados TODAY.

The project is not only aimed at ensuring that farmers can bring to harvest their six to eight weeks crops despite drought conditions, but also expanding the acreage for produce.

Weir said: “The project has now started under the Ministry of Agriculture and there has been a consultant from the UNDP [United Nations Development Programme] that has been appointed to do the project.

“The consultant has already done most of the required studies and testing which would enable us to access the US$10 million grant for climate smart agriculture.

“At the River Plantation there will be new pools augmenting water supply to the farmers, clearing of the [Three Houses] stream, expansion of the Browne’s pond, increased irrigation and this is the type of stuff that would also extend to the farmers of the Spring Hall Land Lease project.”

The news comes just days after the Barbados Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation (BADMC) announced that it will once again be rationing the water supplied to farmers at its Spring Hall Land Lease Project as the drought threatens to wreak havoc on crops.

Dr Jamekal Andwele, a technical officer at the state farm corporation made the revelation during a recent press briefing with local climatologists and meteorologists.

He revealed that the Barbados Water Authority’s (BWA) decision to ration water last year took farmers by surprise and forced the BADMC to reduce its own rations down to two hours per day in some cases.

While stressing there was no need to panic this time around, Dr Andwele acknowledged that a solution was desperately needed for many rural farmers whose wellbeing is directly tied to the success of their crops.

The Minister assured farmers that relief was close at hand, as access to the funds was just a matter of submitting the relevant reports to the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB).

“The process is already taking place and the consultant met with interest groups and farmers at my office yesterday to go over the entire project,” Weir said.

“So, activating the funds comes down to how fast we can submit our reports to the CDB.

“So, I am pushing for the consultant to have all of these things in place.

“This is important for non-sugar agriculture because we have been seeing increases in this sector.

“We now need to increase that growth by getting larger acreage for the 6-8 weeks crops.

“We are going towards targeted selected planting, which would give us the type of scale which we need, as well as better market planning.”
colvillemounsey@barbadostoday.bb