Barbados, St Lucia forge blue economy ties over fish feed from waste

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A high-level delegation of fisheries industry figures from Saint Lucia has flown here at the start of a six-day peer learning visit focused on a pioneering fish silage initiative. 

The mission aims to provide the visitors with the blueprint to replicate a model that turns fish processing waste into high-value animal feed and bio-fertiliser.

By diverting tonnes of waste from landfills and reducing the cost of imported feed, the project is being hailed as a transformative pillar of the region’s blue economy.

Speaking at the opening session at UN House in Hastings, Yvette Diei-Ouadi, fisheries and aquaculture officer at the Food and Agriculture Organization Subregional Office for the Caribbean, welcomed the delegation, noting that the visit is structured around three core objectives. 

Yvette Diei-Ouadi, Fisheries and Aquaculture Officer, FAO Subregional Office for the Caribbean and Juan Cheaz Pelaz, FAO Representative

While the primary focus remains on the technical transformation of fish waste into silage, the agenda also addresses critical market access issues.

“Saint Lucia is currently banned from exporting fish and fish products to the US,” Diei-Ouadi explained. “Barbados did have positive comparative findings, so Barbados was successful in this regard. So there is an experience to share here.”

She highlighted that the success in Barbados was not the result of a single project, but a coordinated series of interventions dating back to 2018. “It wasn’t a single project but a set of projects which led us to be here now… it started with a little money, something some of my colleagues know as the technical cooperation project, we call it TCP. It’s an FAO funding, very little, and we had this funding to start with based on the request from the government of Barbados.”

The economic drivers for the project are clear: animal feed accounts for over 70 per cent of livestock production costs in the Caribbean. By utilising fish silage, Barbados has created a buffer against global market shocks, such as the price hikes triggered by the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Diei-Ouadi emphasised that the timing of the initiative was crucial.

“Our initiative gained a lot of visibility when there was this Russia-Ukraine war conflict because the price of the grain or the feed rose and everyone started complaining about it. We said, ‘Hey, at the local level, we have started something which will not be affected by what is going on over there.’”

Beyond economics, the project addresses a major environmental threat. Diei-Ouadi noted that tonnes of fish waste are dumped in Barbadian landfills daily. “When they are decaying, they produce greenhouse gas… which is even more potent than carbon dioxide, over 20 times. Here are these drivers to the high interest in our initiative.”

Wayne Smith, executive director of the Barbados Ruminants Farm Services, explained how young farmers transformed an abandoned building provided by the Ministry of Agriculture into a hub for nutritional intervention.

Wayne Smith Director of the Barbados Ruminants Farm Services

A key technical takeaway is the use of a biological method of silage production that uses molasses from the local sugar industry rather than imported acids.

“It was clear to me that the biological method was the way I wanted to go with my farmers,” Smith said. “The acid had a component of getting this product that had to be imported… whereas the biological method offered the small producer a range of things they could do.”

Diei-Ouadi added that this local adaptation was a point of pride. “During COVID, they realized why I was pushing for the molasses to be imported from Miami and during the COVID period, even to do the pilot, you couldn’t. Our biological pathway was the best we have chosen.”

The visit also touched on the challenges of mindset shifts within the agricultural sector. Discussions revealed that some veterinary services have been slow to embrace home-grown silage, often favouring imported concentrates.

“The feed companies spend a lot of money marketing,” Smith told the delegation. “It is very difficult for some entities to push what we do… if your challenge is that 70% of your money is going towards your production, you need to work on systems to bring that cost down.”

The success of the initiative has triggered the launch of the Youth Agribusiness Incubator Centre, which Diei-Ouadi described as a “centre of excellence” for the entire Caribbean.

“What we have achieved as well is a sustained WhatsApp group… it’s still the most active among fishers,” Diei-Ouadi said, highlighting the community impact.

“The ministry is aiming to bring all this equipment for fishers because they have an interest as well. They are not going to put in their budget removal fees anymore. They can use all this money for other development activities of the fisheries sector.”

As the St Lucian delegation prepares for hands-on training, the mission stands as a model for Caricom cooperation towards a 25 per cent reduction in extra-regional food imports by 2030.

(RR)