Tag Archives: local food

Why Buy Local

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The argument has been made that we should give up farming in Barbados, our cost of production is too high and we can get food cheaper elsewhere. Here I’m going to give you a few reasons why you should support Bajan farmers and buy local.

Food security – The global population is growing and the impact of climate change  will make farming increasingly challenging in many areas. Local farming provides a vital buffer against sudden changes in supply.  Additionally, maintaining an industry with a core of workers and equipment with the know-how and capabilities to expand the industry  is a vital hedge against the very likely possibility that global food scarcity will become a larger issue.

Health – Locally produced foods are generally whole-food, food which hasn’t been processed or only minimally processed. High consumption of processed food is being linking to a wide variety of medical conditions.  When eating local whole foods you are consuming the freshest, most health food you can.

Safety – With many of the food contamination stories in the news, knowing who your food producer is, and the standards they are required to meet, gives confidence about the quality of the food you are buying for your family.

In order for an industry to maintain viability it must also maintain a certain size.  It needs to be big enough for someone to be willing to import tractors and fertilizer, it needs to be big enough that it is worth someone’s time to learn how to repair tractors and other pieces of farm equipment. As the industry decreases in size, the shared overhead costs become more burdensome, decreasing the viability of the industry. Supporting the local agricultural sector through consumption and use of local produce is essential for its continued survival and flourishing.

Agri-Notes – The Importance of Agriculture

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Agri-Notes

The Importance of Agriculture

The agricultural sector in Barbados doesn’t get the respect it deserves. But it’s been known for a long time that a dollar spent in agriculture is recycled, on average, more than six times in the economy which is more than a dollar spent in any other economic sector.

The reason for this is that other sectors are also dependent on agriculture.  Too often agricultural discussions focus narrowly on the “on-farm” or production aspects but the agricultural sector also involves:

  1. Input supply: management, labour (skilled and unskilled), equipment, and equipment repairs, planting material, fertilizers, herbicides, insecticides, fungicides et al;
  2. Postharvest: Handling, storage, transport and distribution, processing, marketing, and sales.

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Diversification of the Barbados Agricultural Sector

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Mr. Peter Webster kindly presented on the topic of “Diversification” of the Barbadian agricultural sector, with a very informative review of some of what has been done in the past and what is possible for the future.

Below are links to bother the presentation and accompanying notes.
Diversification Presentation
Diversification – notes

Coconut Thinktank

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Are you interested in growing coconuts? Whether on a small or commercial scale there several factors which can influence how productive your coconut trees are.

At the recently conclude coconut think tank several presentations were made which covered the general agronomy, pests and diseases, post harvest handling for good water quality, an economic analysis of coconut farming profitability and the wide range of uses that all parts of the coconut can be put to.

Below you will find links to all the presentations made at the think tank.

The BSTA would like to thank the Agricultural Research and Variety Testing Unit at Groves, St. George, for allowing us use of their facility to host the think tank.

Growing

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Pests

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Diseases

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Coconut Water Quality
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Profitability

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The Wonderful World of Coconut Products

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NO FOOD DAY by Peter Webster

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October 16, 2011 designated as “World Food day” has come and gone – or has it? For too many of the billion hungry people the world over, most days are “no food day”.  The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations (UN) promoted the theme “Food Prices – From Crisis to Stability” to highlight a worldwide trend that is “hurting the poor consumer, the small producer and agriculture in general” because “food prices which were stable for decades have become increasingly volatile”.  They concluded that “controlling prices was key to the fight against hunger”.

FAO further lamented that “Agriculture cannot respond fast enough with increased food production because of long-term under-investment in research, technology, equipment and infrastructure”.

The statement by the FAO Director General, Dr. Jacques Diouf, leaves several unanswered questions: Why did FAO emphasise the volatility or fluctuation of food prices and not the fact that the prices were higher although fluctuating? How do higher prices hurt producers and agriculture in general?  Why does FAO concern itself with the hungry?  Since when are the interests of food producers the same as those of consumers?  Could the high price of energy be a contributing factor to high food prices? and Why is there under-investment in agriculture?

It is unfortunate that the FAO statement does not distinguish between the food producers and distributors. Promoting more investment in agriculture is like “pushing rope” since it deals with an effect and not the cause! Food producers around the world have repeatedly increased their production when they are adequately rewarded for their investment.  Our experience in Barbados supports this.  When our government in 1971 taxed all of the nasty profits out of our highly efficient sugar industry (over $50 million between 1974 and 1981) the result was dwindling capital investment in the industry with productivity falling by 50% from a high of over ten tonnes of sugar per hectare to the five tonnes per hectare currently being achieved.

Our people supposedly abhor agriculture but several are reputed to be cultivating marijuana in discreet nooks and crannies around the island despite the risk of imprisonment.  Why are they not growing sweet potatoes and yams?  Could it be that cultivation of the latter is not lucrative enough?

We need to stop expecting the food producers to feed the poor and hungry – this is society’s responsibility not the food producers who are trying to earn a living!

I strongly recommend that FAO focus on its mandate to promote food production and leave the job of feeding the hungry to those with that conflicting mandate.  In the process FAO should ensure that OXFAM and other food-aiders feed the hungry with fresh, healthy food from their poor countries like rice, yams, sweet potatoes, vegetables and coconut water instead of over-processed and unhealthy wheat flour and powdered milk.  This would promote food production in the very countries where most of the hungry are located. Unfortunately, such action would put the food-aiders out of work and we cannot have that, can we?

I recall hearing President Bush (the son) admit in the dying days of his Presidency (October, 2008) that the USA had made a mistake in providing food-aid to poor countries.  He concluded that the USA should have helped the countries to produce their own food instead.  At the time I thought “Wow! I wonder how many people have heard and will remember this”.  Obviously not many!

FAO also supports the “elimination of trade-distorting agricultural subsidies in rich countries”.  Rubbish! Agricultural subsidies have been practiced by the rich countries for centuries. It is one of the reasons why they are rich!  Their economies are not bled by having to import billions of $ in foreign food.  Subsidies promote their agricultural industries, maintain their producers’ standard of living and contribute significantly to their economies by providing value added opportunities which amount to more than the value of their agricultural industry.  They also promote their countries’ food security.  Such subsidies only distort trade in agricultural commodities when the surpluses they tend to produce are dumped on the world market at less than their real cost of production.  It is the act of dumping that distorts the trade not the subsidies!

Governments the world over subsidise housing, health, education, transport, and utilities for the poor but are not supposed to subsidise the most basic and important item needed by the poor – food !  Logic seems to be lacking.  Furthermore, if the subsidies are eliminated where would the food-aiders get their cheap food to feed the hungry?  Round and round we go….!

Peter Webster

NB: Peter Webster is a retired Portfolio Manager of the Caribbean Development Bank and a former Senior Agricultural Officer in the Ministry of Agriculture.

Should We Produce Our Own Food? by Peter Webster

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I was amused by the recent comments of a World Bank economist reported in the news on Friday 25, January, 2008 that “It may be better for small states such as the developing countries of the Caribbean to de-emphasise agricultural production, import food and focus their attention on reducing poverty”.  These comments were nothing new as some of our regional economists have been saying the same misguided thing for years, but they reminded me of former USA President Ronald Reagan’s description of economists as “People who see something actually working in reality and still question whether it would work in theory”.

The developed countries of Europe and North America have subsidised their agriculture for over a hundred years.  Such direct subsidies currently amount to the equivalent of almost a trillion United States Dollars annually in the countries of the European Union, and the United States of America is not far behind. At the same time they also provide market protection for their producers. Why?  Subsidies keep their farmers gainfully employed on their land, promote food security, minimize food costs and contribute substantially to their country’s economy which is not drained by the cost of importing all of their food.  Research has also shown that every dollar spent in agriculture is recycled, on average, six times in the economy which is more than that occurring in any other sector.  The high multiplier effect of agriculture in an economy results from the fact that food is a necessity for everybody and agriculture largely involves the rural poor who may be described as the base of the economy. It also results from the value added component of agro-industry that would not exist in the absence of agriculture.

Agricultural production subsidies, especially for local markets, cannot be faulted whether in developed or developing countries.  Similar subsidies are now an accepted norm in many other sectors including education, health, housing, water, et al. Why not agriculture (food production)? The problems come with the surpluses the subsidies tend to produce and the implication that countries producing such surpluses are more efficient producers than anybody else – a myth. However, when these surpluses are dumped on the world market at half of the actual cost of their production, the destructive effect on farmers in countries without such subsidies or market protection is worse than any terrorist bomb.  This helps to explain why there are mountains of food in storage in some countries while millions are starving in others.

The continent of Africa was a net exporter of food up to the time (1960s) that economists started telling the new popular leaders of emerging African Nations the same nonsense quoted in the opening paragraph.  They imported cheap, subsidised food for their masses at the expense of their local farmers who then added to their countries’ problems by vacating their farms and moving to the nearest urban areas in search of jobs.  In so doing, the African countries were drained of scarce foreign exchange – the imported food may be cheap but it still costs foreign exchange – and they were also saddled with the attendant problems of increased rural poverty and servicing the urban spread.  Africa, once a “bread basket” for the world, now has starving millions, imports more than half of its food and is mired in debt and poverty despite a wealth of human and natural resources.  

The exceptions to the foregoing, South Africa and Zimbabwe, support the argument that the African countries’ agricultural decline was a major cause of their economic problems and not just poor leadership and corruption as popularly thought i.e. before Robert Mugabe destroyed his country’s farming community. Please note that the foregoing has been documented by many researchers.

A related issue is that the farm gate price of food is seldom more than 50% of the market price. Handling, transport, packaging, storage, distribution and marketing of food can account for 80% of the market price.  This value added is seldom recognized by commentators discussing food prices when they target production costs.

All of this at a time when the United Nations has been promoting the concept that if you “give a man a fish you may feed him for a day but if you teach him how to fish you feed him for a life time”.  In other words if you “give a man food you may feed him for a day but if you help him to feed himself you feed him for a lifetime”.

When questioned as to “why they think that the developed countries can justify their heavy agricultural subsidies but the developing countries cannot”?  Economists have responded simply that the developed countries can afford it but the developing countries cannot.  There can be no doubt why the developed countries can afford the subsidies while developing countries cannot and are unlikely ever to be able to afford it.  One builds while the other bleeds.

Can developing countries (large or small) afford not to subsidise their own food production?  The answer lies in how we classify the sector.  Is it productive or social?  It is understandable why there is a difficulty in justifying subsidies of activities in the productive sector, including export crops, but food production and related food costs are so closely associated with the social sector and poverty that the classification and justification is de facto.  Besides, the reported comments can only apply where there is full employment in more productive activities than food production and this has not yet happened in any country – developed or developing, large or small.

Peter Webster

Note:  Peter Webster is a retired Portfolio Manager of the Caribbean Development Bank and a former Senior Agricultural Officer in the Ministry of Agriculture.

AGRICULTURE IS VITAL by Basil Springer

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“And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace for those who make peace.” – James 3:18

In last week’s column we beseeched the social partners to unite under the leadership of the new Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago. Now, we wish that the youthful energy in the new Cabinet of the twin island nation infuses the entire Caribbean. This is indeed a gargantuan task but let us make a start with the agricultural sector.

People are our most important resource and have to be fed. Agriculture is a science which guides farmers as they cultivate the soil for the growing of crops and the rearing of animals to provide food and other products for local and tourist consumption. Agricultural goods can be grown for export, to reduce the massive agricultural import bill and contribute to net foreign exchange earnings.

Locally grown agricultural produce is more easily quality controlled and gets from farm to table in a much shorter time than imported produce. Many locally grown products reach the consumer at a cheaper price than imported products and selected products provide our full complement of nutrients.

Why then do we not have a comprehensive coordinated programme for agricultural development in the Caribbean rather than a piecemeal approach by territory. This approach has not produced a sustainable solution in the last 70 years since the Report of West India Royal Commission, also known as The Moyne Report, was published at the end of the second world war. Many billions of dollars of national and donor funds have been wasted.

Although not formally trained in agriculture science, I have been associated with the full spectrum of agriculturalists and the agricultural sector for my entire professional life and I am still involved in one way or another.

Having been trained as a Mathematician, Statistician and Operations Research scientist in Jamaica, Wales and at the Imperial College of Science and Technology in London, I interned as a Biometrician at Rothamsted Research, formerly known as Rothamsted Experimental Station, which is the longest running agricultural research station in the world, providing cutting-edge science and innovation for nearly 170 years.

The establishment of the Biometrics unit at the Faculty of Agriculture at University of the West Indies at St. Augustine Trinidad (1968) was my first professional assignment and it is still in operation today under the Caribbean Agricultural Research and Development Institute. I was President of the Caribbean Agro-Economic Society, the Barbados Society for Technologists in Agriculture and am currently Chairman of the recently launched Global Business Innovation Corporation which encapsulates the key components of the Caribbean Food Business Innovation Revolution.

In addition, I was an avid vegetable gardener at least twice in my life, have been involved in many agricultural development consultancies and given advice to many post graduate agricultural students over the years.

Eat Bajan Day this year is on October 9. This is managed by the Graham Gooding Trust of which I am a Trustee. Quite a lot has rubbed off from these experiences and if I do not know any specific detail in agriculture at least I know who to ask.

My primary interest is in shepherding businesses to sustainable success. Agriculture is a business and my continuing interest in the sector is to contribute to its success at the enterprise, national and regional levels.

I propose a simple 5M business system construct as follows:  The Model (Idea/innovation) is at the Core (Corporate Governance);  The Money (outlay) provides the Stamina (Investment Finance); The Marketing (sales) is the Life (Marketing); The Methodology (shepherding) is the Growth (Operations); and the Mind-set Change (shepherding) inspires sustainability (People Development). The high inherent business risks in the agricultural sector are associated with the above five business systems.

Corporate Governance risks – 3: (1) there is little or no focus on management meeting culture to structure the foundation of the business; (2) failure to observe legal and environmental laws reflecting society’s priorities or industry mandates; and (3) deleterious impact on the natural resource base.

Investment Finance risks -2: (1) little or no focus on credit rating culture; and (2) low equity input by the entrepreneur in the business.

Marketing risks – 4: (1) little or no focus on customer centric culture; (2) no proactive aggressive market led sales and distribution strategy; (3) unrealistic sales projections especially for start-ups, re-births, spin-offs and scale-ups; and (4) unpredictable prices and markets.

Operations risk – 7: (1) little or no focus on profitability culture; (2) use of low technology; (3) variations in output due to weather, pests, disease and value chain logistics/timing; (4) praedial larceny; (5) lack of crop insurance; (6) outdated ICT and administrative systems; and (7) weak net cash flows.

People Development risk – 4: (1) little or no focus on productivity culture; (2) poor time management practice; (3) the lack of positive affirmations of passion, perseverance and patience among personnel; and (4) selection, training and motivation issues centered around family members and employees.

These 20 risks are among the challenges that have to be addressed as we take on the agricultural sector.

My firm belief is that there is no shortage of agricultural entrepreneurs in the Caribbean with the potential to grow the industry but we must establish an adequate user-friendly agricultural investment fund and secure the fund by a systematic shepherding process to mitigate the above risks as humanly possible.

Let us develop a healthy, robust agricultural community that lives right with God and enjoys its results. Let us do the hard work of getting along with each other, treating each other with mutual respect, dignity and honour.

(Dr. Basil Springer GCM is Change-Engine Consultant, Caribbean Business Enterprise Trust Inc. – CBET. His columns may be found at www.cbetmodel.org and www.nothingbeatsbusiness.com.)

 

EAT BAJAN DAY by Basil Springer

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“Wisdom is supreme—so get wisdom.” – Proverbs 4:7

Once again, I join my fellow Trustees of the Graham Gooding Trust Fund in commemorating  the late E.G.B. Gooding (1915-1987) who was born in Britain of Barbadian parents and was educated at Harrison College and Cambridge University. He was a botanist, agriculturalist, food technologist and environmentalist and I was fortunate to have interacted with him and benefited from his wisdom on many occasions on my return to Barbados in 1974. He researched and published extensively on the ecology and flora of Barbados.

He was an innovative thinker and made many an important contribution in the areas of food production, sugar cane diversification and agri-business. He worked unstintingly for conservation of the island’s natural heritage through the Barbados National Trust and the Government’s Town and Country Planning Advisory Committee.

The Graham Gooding Trust Fund gives an annual Graham Gooding Biology prize at the University of the West Indies in Barbados and initiated the concept of “Eat Bajan Day” as an activity that builds on his legacy. This year Eat Bajan Day will be observed on Friday, October 9.

People are our most important resource and have to be fed. Eat Bajan Day sensitizes us about the importance of local agriculture and fisheries to our health and wealth and to the planet’s future. The Trustees are encouraging all to try to use only local food and beverage  for  meals on Eat Bajan Day. But why stop there? We should continue throughout the year.

Locally grown agricultural produce is more easily quality controlled and gets from farm to table in a much shorter time than imported produce. Many locally grown products reach the consumer at a cheaper price than imported products and selected products provide our full complement of nutrients.

Agriculture is a science which guides farmers as they cultivate the soil for the growing of crops and the rearing of animals to provide food, both fresh and processed, and other products for local, tourist and global consumption. In the process, the massive agricultural import bill can be reduced and a contribution made to net foreign exchange earnings.

As the local agricultural industry expands, we can benefit from economies of scale. There is the potential to increase quality and productivity and decrease unit price leading to greater competiveness.   Incidentally, I pose the hypothesis that praedial larceny will disappear with registration of vendors and farmers, the policing of the trade and reduction of unit price due to the expanded industry making it no longer a viable proposition for larcenists.

What are the results of our attempts at a comprehensive coordinated programme for agricultural development in Barbados?  No change,  primarily because of the high risks involved.

These risks are associated with the following:

(1) Corporate Governance – little or no focus on leadership and management to structure the foundation of the business; failure to observe legal and environmental laws reflecting society’s priorities or industry mandates; and a deleterious impact on the natural resource base.

(2) Finance – little or no focus on credit rating; and low equity input by the entrepreneur in the business.

(3) Marketing – little or no focus on cusumer satisfaction; no proactive aggressive market-led sales and distribution strategy; unrealistic sales projections especially for start-ups, re-births, spin-offs and scale-ups; and unpredictable prices and markets.

(4) Operations risk – little or no focus on profitability; use of low technology; variations in output due to weather, pests, disease and value chain logistics/timing; praedial larceny; lack of crop insurance; outdated ICT and administrative systems; and weak net cash flows.

(5) People – little or no focus on productivity; poor time management practice;  the lack of passion, perseverance and patience in the entrepreneur; and selection, training and motivation issues centered around family members and employees.

In order to state and pursue a policy of sustainable economic growth, the first order of business is to get the governance right. There has to be a clear understanding of the difference between leadership and management. Leadership is about doing the right things and management is about doing things right. Leadership is about vision and management is about action.

According to Forbes Magazine (March 23, 2014): “Today’s market environment places a premium on speed, flexibility and the ability to lead in uncertain situations. At the same time, the flattening of organizations has created an explosion in demand for leadership skills at every level.”

In developing an economy, wise leaders in government and the private sector have important roles to play. The relative roles of the government and the private sector have to be clearly delineated.

The role of the government should be to lead change by stating the policy for agricultural growth and supporting such policy by providing a dynamic enabling environment within which the role of the private sector should be to manage strategy and drive business growth.

On the subject of Eat Bajan Day, I would like to take this opportunity to remember my own mother, Rita Springer SCM, who passed away in January 2013 at the age of 98. She too was an advocate for eating local and indeed was the author of “Caribbean Cookbook”, first published in 1968. Her cookbook was re-launched in 2008, enhanced with photographs of the dishes under the name “Caribbean Cookbook  – A Lifetime of Recipes”.

You are invited to support the Trust’s fundraising fruit tree sale hosted by Carter’s General Store at Wildey on Friday, October 9 and Saturday, October 10.

May our agricultural leaders open their hearts to receive divine wisdom and act on it so that the people of this nation and our region can receive many more blessings all the days of our lives.

(Dr. Basil Springer GCM is Change-Engine Consultant, Caribbean Business Enterprise Trust Inc. – CBET. His columns may be found at www.cbetmodel.org and www.nothingbeatsbusiness.com.)

Eat Bajan by Frances Chandler

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Who would’ve thought  that Trinidad, with all its oil and gas resources would ever be in trouble with foreign exchange? But it seems they put all their eggs in the fossil fuel basket and now oil prices have fallen, they’re in trouble.

It’s been said that Barbados has a much more diverse economy than Trinidad. But for how long? We seem to be continually downplaying most sectors and  putting our eggs in the tourism basket, instead of moving all our sectors forward together.

Agriculture has certainly suffered at the feet of tourism when the two sectors should be partners in culinary tourism to keep more tourism dollars in Barbados. More  players need to “put their money where their mouth is” and support local food.  And of course farmers have to understand  they must satisfy their customers’ demands. But sometimes these demands are somewhat unreasonable and  always end with “at a reasonable price”. But how can you produce at a reasonable price unless your inputs are also at a reasonable price and your labour is productive?

Then there’s  competition from imports. We seem to have signed every agreement possible in favour of other countries’ agriculture. Apparently, under these agreements, we can’t protect our own agriculture and we have to be competitive. How come big countries like Canada can protect their agriculture? I’m sure they’ve signed on to these agreements too. But they’re proud to say their produce is homegrown. And if there’s a hint of any negative change in regulations, their farmers don’t” take it sitting down”.

I was really impressed that our Prime Minister considered agriculture important enough to raise it at the recent Heads of Government  Conference. Using his usual oratorical skills, he noted that “as leaders for the time being of our respective countries we must accept the solemn responsibility which devolves on our shoulders to raise the gaze of our people to new and hitherto unimagined regional horizons.

Nowhere is this more necessary than in the area of food security.  For how much longer are we going to repeat that between the lands of Guyana, of Belize and now also of Suriname, we have the veritable breadbasket of the Caribbean? 

Has the time not come, is the hour not upon us when we must, in a structured manner mobilize the idle hands in our region around the idle lands in our region and deal systematically with the food security issues we have been facing.  If our palates are being held on mortgage by producers of food outside of this region, are we still justified in thinking ourselves genuinely independent?”

My let down was that Barbados didn’t get a mention. We’re small, but we have idle lands and no shortage of idle hands so can contribute significantly to our own food security if the issues raised earlier are addressed at a high level.

The Prime Minister also noted that “At the best of times our countries have been fiscally fragile and this crisis has  rather cruelly exposed how vulnerable we are to exogenous shocks.” One of these shocks looming large is world shortage of food , especially in view of the worsening water  situation in California (a major supplier of vegetables and fruit to the Caribbean) and the use of corn in producing ethanol, rather than food. We must  prepare ourselves.

Someone commented  recently  “No-one can convince me that it is cheaper to bring in a foreign made refrigerated alternative across 6,000 or more miles by road and ship and for the wholesale distributors to always disperse them within the stated sell by date. There has to be waste and spoilage.” It’s quite evident  there’s waste and spoilage which translates into a waste of foreign exchange. So we have to support the development of  local agro-industries.

Recently, we’ve seen  a fledgling  cheese industry, but it needs support from government and consumers. We can’t have all types of imported cheese entering Barbados free of duty.

In short, we must all get on board if we’re to become more self sustainable. To this end, the Graham Gooding Trust is hosting its annual “Eat Bajan Day” on October 09. The Massy Group of stores  is again collaborating by offering an “All Bajan” menu in their delis and Carters General Stores is hosting a sale of fruit trees on Friday 09 and Saturday 10 October. Let’s all support the effort.

 

Dr. Frances Chandler is a former independent senator  E mail: fchandler @caribsurf.com