Hope Agricultural Training Institute Begins Operations in St Lucy

Munro-Knight said Government was pursuing a comprehensive and long-term strategy to improve the island’s food resilience, noting that initiatives already under way were designed to prepare Barbados for future global supply shocks.

“So that’s why we have important initiatives like this. This crop escalation plan is not new. So it shows a level of foresight again by the board and BADMC to begin to plan for that,” she said.

The minister revealed that authorities were also examining ways to reduce the country’s dependence on imported agricultural supplies and inputs through innovation and regional partnerships.

“Very strategically we’re looking at a number of different things. So even just in terms of honey and bees. So we import maybe two per cent of all of the inputs that go into beekeeping. We’re looking at if we can work with other regional partners, local partners. Export Barbados had said to us that they have the possibility to actually 3D print the suits that are used as well,” she said.

She disclosed that Government would soon begin distributing fertilisers free of cost to farmers in a bid to ease production expenses amid rising international prices.

“Fertilisers are expensive and also one of the things that we are importing. So we’re looking very strategically, plank by plank, at those things and I want to say to you it’s not going to be easy in order to be able to do and it’s going to be a long-term effort,” Munro-Knight added.

“We have to be able to build capacity here as much as possible and a lot of that also has to be done regionally. Hence my travels to Guyana, to Suriname and again there are a number of initiatives that will be announced there in relation to our partnership with Guyana and Suriname that will help us as well also with that effort to reduce imports.”

The minister also addressed growing concerns surrounding drought conditions linked to El Nino and the possible impact on local farming.

“Through the ministry we’ve already seen a number of [public service announcements (PSAs)] go out. I also believe that BADMC would have issued a number of PSAs in relation to water usage as well. We also will be broadening our extension services so that we can offer more hands-on support to farmers as well.”

The minister pointed to several measures already being implemented to assist farmers in coping with extreme heat and changing climate conditions.

“You would notice that in the Budget . . . we would have announced an initiative for our chicken farmers, those who are rearing the chickens as well, to have the specialised paint and that is something that’s actually being rolled out. So that’s not an if, that is something that we’re actually doing,” Munro-Knight said.

“We’re also as well looking very carefully at what is happening around irrigation. Just last week we were looking at our stock of irrigation materials that we have here on island to make sure that we do have enough as well,” she said, adding that Government was taking a very “hands-on practical approach” to the challenge of climate change and how they responded to it.

“We’re going to be walking and talking with farmers as well through it as we go on.”