Island faces growing food security challenge says BAS CEO

Barbados is grappling with an escalating food challenge due to the increasing conversion of agricultural land into housing developments, according to James Paul, CEO of the Barbados Agricultural Society (BAS).

In response to claims by Opposition Leader Ralph Thorne that the country was facing a food crisis, Paul warned of serious long-term consequences if the trend continues but stopped short of declaring a crisis.

As the farming community’s chief spokesman toured the site of Agrofest at Queen’s Park, he noted that while food security in Barbados has not reached a dire stage, the repurposing of farmland for housing is a growing concern.

“If you check all of the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organisation) reports, they will tell you that the expanding population poses challenges. For us in Barbados I don’t view it as a food crisis but a food challenge; in that we are still alienating large tracts of agricultural land in this country,” he said.

Paul highlighted a recent development in St Lucy, where a significant area of agricultural land is set to be used for housing. He questioned the need for additional construction when many existing housing units remain vacant: “The most recent one I heard is in St Lucy where again we have a large [tract] of land that is going to go into housing. Who benefits from this? When I look around Barbados I see a lot of housing [with] unoccupied vacant units, and then we have this incentive to want to build more houses. For who?”

The BAS CEO emphasised the importance of protecting agricultural land for future food security.

“This whole thing about our agricultural land and our unwillingness to protect it from this violation where we are putting concrete on these lands, where we are going to need it for the future. Barbados has to continue to maintain the ability to feed itself. When we go and take these large tracts of agricultural land, we may enrich a rich construction person, but at the future expense of Barbadians. We all know what we basically have to do is manage our land resources,” he added.