Download Remarks made by Esworth Reid, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of

Remarks made by Esworth Reid, Permanent
Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture, Food, Fisheries and
Water Resource Management at Caribbean and Pacific
Meeting , Monday November 2nd, 2015
Mr. Chairman, Chief Executive Officer of the Barbados
Agricultural Society, Mr. James Paul, the
Representative
Cooperation
of
on
the
Inter-American
Agriculture,
Ms.
Barbados
Institute
Ena
for
Harvey,
Representatives of the European Union, Specially invited
guests , ladies and gentlemen, It gives me great pleasure
to speak to you this morning at the opening of this
Caribbean-Pacific conference and to represent the Minister
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of Agriculture, Food, Fisheries and Water Resource
Management, Dr. The Honourable David Estwick , who
because of other commitments cannot be here this
morning. At this point I will like to give a hospitality welcome
to all those who are from overseas.
Ladies and gentlemen, I believe that as people from
countries in the Caribbean and the Pacific and at the same
time, being former colonies of Europe, we share a similar
economic history. This is where for many years, agriculture
has been the mainstay of most of our economies and where
the pre-independence era saw the natural resources of our
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countries being used as primary inputs into new and
emerging industries in Europe to further grow those
economies.
Having said that, I can go on and say that in the postindependence era we have sold ourselves short, and this is
so especially in the Caribbean, where rather than working
together to use our natural resources to build an develop
our own economies, we continued to ship these riches in
the raw state, under the pretence of preferential trade, to
further build the economies of the developed importing
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countries who in most cases were the former colonial
masters.
It is now widely accepted by development economists
in academia that the heavy dependence of members of the
ACP group of countries
on preferential-treatment for
market access of primary products such as agricultural
products into European countries and to some extent,
North America, was a major contributor to their continued
economic underdevelopment and restricted economic
growth over the years.
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It is believed that this was especially so because of the
reluctance that most of these countries had with respect to
venturing into the processing of agricultural produce
beyond the primary stage. This was ably supported by the
apparent but false image of a comfort zone that they
thought they enjoyed, created by the false impression that
the guaranteed access into the markets of Europe and to
some extent Canada and the U.S.A , was never ending.
Now that times have changed and the stark reality of
the land of the giants and the dwarfs has been revealed,
especially with respect to the removal of this preferential
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comfort zone we thought we had, we suddenly realize that
we are in a land where lesser equals must compete with the
greater equals to survive. we also now seem to recognize
and appreciate the economic path that we should have
taken long time ago. This being, the deepening of southsouth
economic
cooperation
among
ourselves
as
developing countries and the need to make an effort to
develop a value-added chain that starts at the primary level
of production and ends with the manufacturing of a final
exportable product, especially in the area of agriculture .It
would therefore be remiss of anyone who stands here this
morning and not welcome the staging of this conference
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and the theme of the conference –Link-Learn-Transform.
This theme is very relevant to this time.
I believe that the vision of every Government in the
ACP grouping is to see their country transform from a state
of developing economy to one that has developed economy
status and is enjoying sustainable economic growth.
However, this vision cannot and will not be realized if every
Government in the grouping strive on the premise that it can
be done at the country level alone or with handouts from the
developed world to the North.
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As developing economies, we cannot and we will not
attain a sustainable economic growth path or attain
developed economy status unless we cooperate with each
other and learn from each other and by so doing, increase
and develop a shared knowledge and technological
capacity that would enable us, if effectively utilized, to
transform our economies by building on primary production
and
developing
highly
sophisticated
production and supply chains.
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value
added
Not one of our economies has to wait to gain the
technology to build bombs and rockets in order to attain the
status of developed economy. Any country from among us,
that would have taken the leap to adopt appropriate
Government policies and to seek out, through regional
cooperation, appropriate technologies to combine and use
the natural and primary resources it has efficiently and
effectively and to produce critical products that would serve
to make that country self-sufficient or close to being selfsufficient in critical products, such as food, energy and
whatever else,
while remaining competitive in the
international market, is already on a path to sustainable
economic growth and becoming a developed economy. The
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only constraint is that whatsoever that country is doing must
be sustainable and you must keep out of internal and
external conflicts.
I will go further and say that no developing country can
effectively attain a sustainable growth path or developed
economy status unless it has a vibrant and sustainable
agricultural sector. Just take note of most developed
countries. They have some of the most vibrant and
developed agricultural sectors and more so, most of them
are practically self-sufficient in basic food, both at the level
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of the primary product and at the top of the value-added
chain in manufacturing.
In Barbados, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food,
Fisheries
and
Water
Resource
Management
has
recognized the critical importance of the agricultural sector
to economic growth and has been pursuing a number of
programs, projects and ways to stimulate and grow the
sector and to make it sustainable. This is despite the
numerous and severe challenges that the sector had to face
over the past thirty or so years which resulted in the relative
contribution it made to GDP contracting from as high as
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thirty percent in the late 1970s and early 1970s, to under
three percent today.
As I said, these challenges were many and severe and
we are still faced with such challenges. This is why it was
imperative that the Ministry which it has done, design and
submit to Cabinet, a well structured national policy on
agriculture to carry the sector forward. draft
I would have
already alluded to the challenge that all of us as members
of the ACP grouping and former colonies of Europe now
face with respect to the removal of the preferential
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treatment we once had in the European markets. Beside
this
challenge, and I can only speak specifically
of
Barbados, we are faced with the severe challenge of
praedial larceny which in some ways has been putting
undue stress on many genuine farmers and forcing some
of them out of business.
Further to this, as a small island state, we are starting to
feel the effects of climate change and this phenomenon has
been impacting negatively on the agricultural sector due to
long periods of drought.
This is notwithstanding our
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vulnerability to the many pests, crops and livestock
diseases that may cross into the Caribbean region and onto
our shores from other regions to the north due to
movements in wind, weather systems and the seasonal
migration of animal species such as birds. Only recently,
the alarm was raised in Barbados about the possible threat
of highly pathogenic Avian Influenza from birds migrating
from the North on a path through the region which has the
potential to wipe out our poultry industry.
Despite all these challenges and more, the Ministry
responsible for agriculture in Barbados has been doing all
in its power to ensure that the agriculture sector rejuvenates
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itself, survives, grows and is sustainable. This is bearing in
mind the recognition of its critical importance to our
country’s economic growth and development.
I can say that with respect to the challenge faced from
paredial larceny and I believe that this is a challenge faced
by farmers in many of our countries , our Ministry of
Agriculture
has
already
submitted
to
the
Chief
Parliamentary Counsel, the office responsible for drafting
legislation,
omnibus legislation that would seek to
strengthen penalties with respect to
perpetrators of
praedial larceny and to establish certain systems that
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should serve deter criminals from committing such acts.
must say here however,
I
that notwithstanding what
Government may do through legislation to alleviate the
problem, of praedial larceny, farmers should still attempt to
ensure that their own private security systems are put in
place to protect their own property since they should not
depend solely on legislation to do the job. The Criminal
minded would always take the chance.
With respect to mitigation against the effects of climate
change, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food, Fisheries and
Water Resource Management here in Barbados, has been
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cooperating and working closely with other countries in the
Caribbean region through the Caribbean Institute for
Meteorology and Hydrology and other regional and
international agencies on projects regarding climate change
adaptation,
early warning systems for climate resilient
development and the strengthening of climate information.
This is all being done in an effort to enable us and all the
other countries involved to be better able to deal with the
onset of short term climate hazards such as hurricanes and
floods and the effects of long term climate change such as
high sea levels and prolong droughts. This is bearing in
mind that the agriculture sector is very vulnerable to climate
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change and its effects, especially when it comes to drought
and floods.
As far as the sustainability of the agriculture sector is
concerned, the Ministry has recognized that the agriculture
sector cannot and
will not be sustainable without the
involvement of the youth. The youth has to be mobilized
and encouraged to become involved if those older
stakeholders exiting the sector are to be replaced. In the
Caribbean, including Barbados, the farming community is
made up of people where most of them are over the age of
fifty five and will need to be replaced very soon.
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In fact, I can say that a new generation of youth in this
country is showing excitement about becoming involved in
the agriculture sector. Through our youth program at the
Ministry entitled, the Youth Agripreneurshp Program which
is supported by funding from the European Union under
Barbados’ Human Resource Development Strategy, where
a number of cohorts of young people are being trained to
recognize agriculture as a natural science and a promising
alternative source of employment and enterprise, it is being
revealed that there is a growing number of young people
who are becoming interested in the area of agriculture
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unlike young people of ten or fifteen years ago when it was
seen as just a poor man or uneducated man task.
This new kind of young people, however are indicating
that they are looking to research, carry out experiments and
innovation in the agricultural sector and are not interested
in staying with the traditional agricultural practices that have
been with us from the colonial days. This, in fact, is what we
need to grow and develop the sector. These young people
are also willing to work together in cooperatives and other
kind of partnership enterprises to carry the sector forward.
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This kind of new attitude by young people towards
agriculture is giving Barbados the opportunity to further
develop
the value
added
chain,
from primary to
manufacturing, especially with regard to the development
of new products. This is notwithstanding the opportunity
that it is opening for linkages to be established with other
sectors such as the hotel and hospitality sector in tourism
or even manufacturing industries.
The young people involved in the Ministry’s program
are expressing much interest in technologies such as
greenhouse technology, aquaponics, hydroponics, solar
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and wind energy use in farming, organic farming including
permaculture
and a whole lot of environmental friendly
methods of doing agriculture. I have no doubt that with the
attitude being demonstrated by our youth
in Barbados
towards agriculture, if it continues, Barbados is set to take
off on a path of sustainable economic growth and really
becoming a true developed country.
I must go further and say that say it is not only young
people that are becoming interested in becoming involved
in the agriculture sector in Barbados, academics in the
natural sciences are also expressing strong interest in
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working with the Ministry to develop new products and new
techniques. At the moment the Ministry has established a
relationship with a number of
scientist who have been
working to develop fibres from some indigenous plants and
medicines from indigenous medicinal plants. I am excited
to see what is going to happen next.
There is no doubt that sustaining an overall
agricultural growth rate of about 3 percent over long years
will be a major challenge to Barbados in the face of
challenges that we face. However with our focus on
encouraging and developing the young people and
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establishing relationships with those persons in the natural
sciences to carry out research and development and
deepening cooperation with others in the region, I believe
that we will be able to have that break through in yields
and varieties which can be made accessible and
affordable for different categories of farmers and the
further development of the agriculture sector.
The role and Medium Term priorities and plans for the
agricultural sector in Barbados are firmly entrenched in our
National Strategic Plan. As mentioned before, The sector
is recognized as one of great economic and social
importance to Barbados, with a critical role in ensuring that
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an acceptable balance is achieved in terms of food
imports and domestic food production and enhancing
foreign exchange earnings, providing the necessary
sanitary and phytosanitary measures are met. The
Ministry of Agriculture will therefore continue to adopt a
commodity-focused, youth focused and scientific
approach in positioning the sector on a more competitive
and sustainable path.
Thus in conclusion, I would like to inform that
agricultural growth in Barbados remains one of the top
most priorities for our Government and we are trying to
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address all the concerns of our farming community,
including praedial larceny, with a focus on cooperation to
sustain agricultural development as well as to strengthen
the country’s nutritional and food security.
We are committed to our farmers, especially small
scale family farmers and women farmers and all the
stakeholders national and international that would seek to
cooperate with us in carrying the sector forward. I wish
you all the best in your deliberations. Thank you.
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