Water change ‘overdue’

The food crop and livestock farmers’ representative organisation has identified the proposed introduction of a single water rate within the agricultural sector as the most significant benefit emerging for them from Government’s budgetary proposals.

Chief Executive Officer of the Barbados Agricultural Society (BAS) James Paul welcomed the news of a fixed water rate, pointing out that the measure was long overdue.

“The fact that they [the Government] has looked at a single rate on water use for agricultural purposes is something that was advocated. We have been asking for it for quite sometime,” Paul told Barbados TODAY.

“The thing is that the current rate which is effectively $1.80 (and then of course you have to pay GSC [Garbage and Sewage Contribution]); when you add on the GSC of $2.70 per cubic metre, it is much lower than what is being charged by the Barbados Water Authority,” he said.

However, the BAS head said that farmers who are added to the register of the Barbados Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation (BADMC), would be subjected now to higher water rates.

“As before, as the Prime Minister pointed out, they were paying 66 cents per cubic metre and now they will be paying $2.04 more per cubic metre overall. So that will carry up their costs. You will have to see how they cope with that,” Paul stated, adding that costs generally are continously rising.

“That in itself is the most significant thing in the budget for farmers. Hopefully, those farmers who rely a lot on the Barbados Water Authority water will certainly benefit especially livestock industries such as dairy, pigs and also those with processing operations,” the spokesman suggested.

Prime Minister Mia Mottley had also announced moves to move toward achieving more energy, food and financial security, which she said was easier to obtain regionally than nationally.

In fact, Mottley was adamant that a more dangerous and volatile world requires  a regional approach to achieving such security.

She said that Barbados has started work with Guyana on several joint food production developments where this country will be acquiring 50 new shade houses from Georgetown to boost agricultural yield in Bridgetown.

But Paul is not very excited about the shade houses project, pointing to a history of failure in Barbados.

“The thing with the shade houses…there have been some challenges with shade houses in the past. As a matter of fact, there have been very few examples of successful green house cultivation in Barbados. I don’t know what type there are, but we would have to wait and see what types are being imported to see the extent to which they can impact. Of course, shade houses demand extremely good management, all depends on the skills of the persons too,” the BAS  boss said.

Mottley pointed out during the debate that effective May 1, 2022, there will be a fixed rate of $1.80 per cubic for water used in the agricultural community.

She said that even as the Government aims to increase the supply of water, it is imperative that a standard rate is set for users in the agricultural sector that accommodates the country’s objective of food and nutrition security and fair and equitable growth.

She said the new rate will be available to all registered farmers. (EJ)