#BTSpeakingOut – Seriously put farming on the front-burner

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by the author(s) do not represent the official position of Barbados TODAY.

by Michael Ray

The woes of poultry producers and livestock farmers will continue for some time to come, unless novel and radical initiatives are put in train. At face value, visits to Argentina and Brazil may appear okay but will not solve the problems facedby Barbadian farmers.

Will prices of raw materials from Argentina and Brazil not be subjected to increases?

United Nations involvement in this largely private sector debacle is likely to be a farcical, forlorn and futile fiasco, if only for red-tape and other formalities.

The solutions to local farmers problems reside right here on island Barbados. There must be a revolution of thinking and attitude. There must be a revolution in antiquated business models and planning.

The status quo must be shaken and shifted. What have become of the Public-Private Partnerships touted as the new business model for driving economic growth OKin Barbados?

Have they been shifted to the back burner or taken completely off the stove? There is enough idle land on the island fit for the growing of soyabeans, sorghum and corn.

A Farmers’ Cooperative body together with government as a PPP can procure a feed plant from China, America, Canada or the United Kingdom to utilise locally produced ingredients for the manufacturing of animal and poultry feeds.

There is no shortage of chemists on the island for the mixing of formulae . The local meat industry should not be impacted so drastically by events occurring so far away
from our shores.

As a newly minted republic we have an obligation to build security and sovereignty around our various industrial sectors. As patriots with expectations great, we must remain “strict guardians of our heritage, firm craftsmen of our fate”.