Two-year-old farm being positioned for expansion into eco-tourism

By Sheria Brathwaite

Food shortages and international supply chain issues during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic made Tanisha Hunte realise it was time to start growing her own food.

In fact, the 34-year-old said she not only realised the importance of food security but she saw it as an opportunity on which she could capitalise and launch her own farming business.

In November 2020, she formed GrowPro, her agri-business based in Cane Garden, St Thomas and though it has only been two years in operation, Hunte already has big plans for expanding her farming venture.

She wants to transform her farm into an eco-tourism enterprise and teach people about the relationship between eating and growing what they ate, which she calls the farm to fork initiative.

“We want to invite people to come and see how food is grown and get hands-on experience. We want to hold workshops and tours for children and to complete our ecosystem, we want to create a pond for ducks and fish.”

However, the small farmer acknowledged that goal would take some time to materialise. She has however started to gather the funds to make it a reality.

She recalled that the seeds to her business had been planted long ago.

“As a child my father had a garden and I would usually help him. But in adulthood, during the pandemic is when I really went into agriculture. My boyfriend was the one mostly interested and it grew on me. So we started to look for a plot and we were able to locate this one,” she said.

“During the pandemic, I realised food security was important. Not being able to have the food come across the water, we saw the shortages. It is definitely a huge thing for us to grow our own food and for us to get into producing more by-products so we can sustain ourselves.”

At first, Hunte grew ground provisions such as pumpkin and sweet potato and she realised that people wanted more. 

Then it dawned on her to transform what was initially supposed to be a tool shed into a farm shop and from there she branched out into producing a variety of crops on the four-acre plot such as squash, tomatoes and chinese cabbage. 

She said people liked the idea of getting their food fresh from the farm and through advertisements on social media she was able to generate customer traffic. 

The small farmer said she felt privileged to be in a position to help people have access to fresh and healthy food, especially during a period when building one’s immune system was critical to fight against the deadly viral illness. 

Furthermore, the level of respect she received made her feel like an even more valued member of society.

Now that she has established herself at a certain level, Hunte is ready to take another step in her business. She intends to stand out and do things differently by planting unusual crops such as purple sweet potatoes and purple hot peppers.

Her hard work on the farm was finally starting to pay off as she was beginning to see significant benefits following an application to the Ministry of Agriculture for a new water rate.

She explained that initially her business was being billed at the commercial rate for water which posed a serious challenge to her operations.

“The price of fertiliser, pesticide, fungicide and even the price of seeds has gone up tremendously over the past few years. What we have been trying to do is use back some of the seeds from our produce to cut costs and for fertiliser we have been trying to use manure a lot more. 

“One of the major challenges we had was water. When we first came here the water was under the commercial rate and the prices were crazy and it was only two months ago that we were finally able to get the agriculture water rate. We applied to the ministry and it took a while and the difference is ten times less. So as we go into the dry season we are just waiting to see how things will go.” 

sheriabrathwaite@barbadostoday.bb