BADMC to market more local produce

In an effort to support a swiftly increasing stock of local produce, Minister of Agriculture and Food Security Indar Weir has pledged to expand the ambit of the Barbados Agricultural Development Marketing Corporation (BADMC) beyond the retail of chicken and turkey wings.

He made the pledge as a training programme was launched for the second cohort of the Farmers Empowerment and Enfranchisement Drive (FEED) at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre.

Noting that the newly trained stock of farmers would significantly improve the country’s food security, Weir stressed that it would all be for naught if there is no space for primary agricultural crops to be developed into secondary products and marketed to the world.

“These are the things we are grappling with, to make sure that when this programme is executed, you are not just planting and growing for the sake of so doing, but that you are doing so with a purpose, and that purpose must be driven through the plans of the BADMC to get involved in further agro-processing, using cassava to produce flour, sweet potato to produce porridges, and reach a point where we really test ourselves,” the Minister told participants.

During his half-hour address, Weir outlined his vision of Barbadian fishcakes being made with local cassava flour or microwavable sweet potato steamed pudding being sold in supermarkets.

“Today I cannot go anywhere and buy a [ready-made] Barbadian pumpkin soup, and that is because our BADMC was comfortable selling chicken wings and turkey wings. They are going to get comfortable doing agro-processing and making sure that all of you are producing for a purpose,” he said of the corporation’s new direction.

In fact, Weir revealed that a business plan was being developed by the state-owned entity forming the basis of a partnership that would see locally processed agricultural products marketed to the world through the Barbadian diaspora.

“They are going to launch a marketing department that is going to reach out to the diaspora, and we are doing this because we recognise that primary agriculture cannot sustain us. Most of what we are doing right now is hobbyist activity and a farmer will not be motivated unless he can increase production and see clearly how he will make money, and that is the role of the Barbados Agricultural and Marketing Corporation,” the Minister declared.

The FEED programme which was launched in May of 2019 will this year train up and coming farmers in areas like apiculture, aquaponics, hydroponics, greenhouse management, and agroforestry, among others. When the 12-week programme is completed, the farmers will benefit from the Government’s lease arrangement initiative that provides a plot of land at $300 per annum.

Minister in the Ministry of Agriculture Peter Phillips, during his brief remarks, noted that the BADMC had committed to purchasing at least 40 per cent of farmers’ produce as part of Government’s commitment.

“The Government’s focus is on agriculture now more than ever, and the advent of COVID-19 showed us that that is what we need, because if boats can’t sail and planes cannot fly . . . we still need to eat and we still need to live,” he added. (KS)