‘Petty cash’

The island’s largest agricultural exhibit, Agrofest, and in particular the livestock competition component, is in dire need of a financial boost, says president of the Barbados Sheep and Goat Farmers Association Rommel Parris.

In fact, he has called on Government, which he accused of putting “petty cash” into the event, to increase its contribution by 500 per cent.

Parris claimed that insufficient monetary support from Government and at least two major agricultural organisations have resulted in a substantial decline in the quality of Blackbelly sheep being presented for judging at the annual event held in Queen’s Park, St Michael.

He said the Barbados Agricultural Society (BAS) could only afford to give the farmer(s) with the best Blackbelly ram and ewe a cash prize of less than $1 000, which was more than unsatisfactory for the indigenous animal that is considered to be one of the best sheep breeds in the world.

Parris took the Government to task for not doing enough to financially support the event and called on the Ministry of Agriculture to do more to support farmers.

“The funding that BAS receives from Government for Agrofest is not enough; it is like putting petty cash into farming. This is the biggest agricultural show in, let’s say, the southern Caribbean. We push in the region that the Barbados Blackbelly sheep is the best. Tell me why we cannot source funding to give the [farmer with the] best Barbados Blackbelly sheep on show a car, $10 000 or $5 000 in hand? It makes no sense,” he said in an exclusive interview with Barbados TODAY following the sheep show at Agrofest over the weekend.

“Agrofest will not be as successful as it can be unless we get the support from the powers that be. The powers that be – being Government, international agricultural organisations such as IICA [Inter-American for Corporation on Agriculture], CARDI [Caribbean Agricultural Research and Development Institute], you name it – if they don’t help us, we can’t do anything.”

He said the small prize money has been having a major impact on the competition and was an overall detriment to the development of the Blackbelly sheep industry.

Parris also said it was a “struggle” to get sufficient funding for Agrofest and noted that over the years, the BAS paid farmers cash prizes late.

“It obviously has an impact because every year we are struggling to get sponsorship . . . . We get some funding coming in before [Agrofest] and some after. We have to be scrambling to pay people what we owe them from before and we have to be doing the same thing after. So people are not going to participate in something if they have to wait on what they are to receive,” he said.

Acknowledging there were major concerns surrounding payment, the BAS sub-group president said: “We have always tried to hit it out of the park as much as we can. Right now, we don’t owe many people but the first thing we have to do when we look at receipts after today is pay people what we owe before and pay people what we owe now. So we need an influx [of funding] from Government.”

Parris declined to state how much money Government pumps into Agrofest but said it needs to be increased substantially.

“The Government and the Ministry of Agriculture need to step up to the plate. What they give is not enough; it cannot put on an agricultural show and this country needs an agricultural show to support farmers and show what farmers in this country can do . . . . We have an agricultural product in Barbados and we need Government to support it.

“We need a 500 per cent increase. This is the only agricultural show in Barbados . . . . We have youngsters coming through who are interested in agriculture but they don’t want to get involved because the funding is poor.

“The farmers are suffering. They have had [challenges brought about by] COVID-19, they have had taxes placed on [their businesses] and have had input increases and it has been showing at Agrofest this year,” Parris said.

He added that although the livestock shows were highly anticipated and people participated, the numbers were “poor”.

“Not because farmers didn’t want to participate, they didn’t have the money to get the animals up to scratch. We had a farmer who entered 30 sheep and he pulled out because he couldn’t buy feed for the last couple of months. He sold and got rid of them,” the Goat Farmers Association head said.

Parris said what added insult to injury was that just over ten goats were presented in the ring during the Goat Show.

During his interview with Barbados TODAY, Parris said while he may be criticised for his comments, he was uncomfortable hearing the complaints of farmers and not speaking up.

“We [the industry] are in trouble right now. Look at the quality of animals we had here at Agrofest 2023. Last year, we didn’t have the best quality but we had a quality [of some degree].

“Farmers are not happy and it is not that they are not happy with the BAS secretariat; they are not happy with the Ministry of Agriculture . . . . [The ministry] has to . . . put money where farmers are. We want to export Barbados Blackbelly sheep, [then] start putting money into breeding Barbados Blackbelly sheep,” he said.

Parris added that the Minister of Agriculture should budget for special projects in the Estimates and “rally the Government to get behind” such programmes.

“If a minister cannot put in his estimates what is needed for agriculture, then he needs to leave . . . ,” he asserted.

When contacted, Minister of Agriculture Indar Weir said: “Agrofest is not a Barbados Government event, it is not a Ministry of Agriculture event. We have increased our sponsorship to them and I am currently working on a special programme to make provisions for small farmers to access support through the BAS similar to the loan scheme we provided to farmers through the BADMC [Barbados Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation] during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“What I would like to see is that the public gets full and frank disclosure on the success and failings of Agrofest and the financial gains or losses,” he added.

sheriabrathwaite@barbadostoday.bb