A few weeks ago I read an article by Dr. Clyde Mascoll, a Barbadian economist, which really startled me. The following is the quote from the article in which he spoke about the agricultural sector of Barbados:
‘’On the other hand, the fact that the tourism sector accounts for about 60 per cent of imported vegetables suggests that there may be some opportunity to forge greater linkages between the sector and non-sugar agriculture. This observation is naïve if it does not take into consideration the non-price factors that influence the demand for vegetables in the tourism sector. These factors appear more important, which may very well explain the reliance on imports in spite of the high tariffs that are applied to vegetables being sourced from non-CARICOM countries during the local growing season.
The common external tariff and other duty charges, which amount to 110 per cent duty, do not contain demand for imported vegetables. Even when low prices trigger the bound rate, the demand is still healthy. The days of non-tariff barriers are over.
The reality is that Barbados’ food import bill is not a major economic problem. In fact, reducing imports will compromise economic growth and Government revenue. Let us face the real problem, that the country needs to earn more foreign exchange.’’ – Dr Clyde Mascoll.
Since the 1980’s we have been hearing about diversification in agriculture and the creation of linkages to the tourism sector and despite millions of dollars and hundreds of speeches nothing much has happened. Mascoll was making the point that there are non-price factors that influence the demand for vegetables in the Tourism sector and despite the high duties; the hotelier will still pursue the purchase of the imported product. He cited lettuce as an example in the article with the iceberg lettuce generating more servings despite the higher price.
The discussion therefore has to be elevated from the valleys of simplicity to a higher level of discourse founded on factual information. Is it possible that some of our attempts to force the tourism industry to interface with the local agricultural sector can hurt our economy?
Let us take the present policy on chicken. The hotelier will say to you that it is cheaper for him to import the chicken than to buy on the local market. Should we pursue a policy which makes our tourism product cheaper or should we prop up the agriculture sector? There is need for some analysis by our economists, and maybe my good friend – Michael Joseph, can take up the challenge.
A couple weeks ago I met Mr. Rambally, who pioneered in the creation of RASCO, I was asking him about Clarence Rambally, who I had not seen in a long while. He informed me that Clarence is now full time in agriculture and enjoying it to the fullest. He then shared that his desire was always engineering and that his parents wanted both of them to study law. He started law but had no passion to continue, he went on to share about his dream to build bridges, and from what I see ongoing maybe he may do a better job than some of our present contractors.
Then he said something that caught my attention, Mr. Rambally spoke about his ventures into agriculture in which he said he was planting some of the ‘lost’ fruits in St. Lucia. The fruits we ate 40 yrs ago and now can hardly be found. It dawned on me that he was unto something, that the exotic fruits of St. Lucia which are all organic is where the focus should be in the interface with the Tourism sector.
The focus should be on the agricultural products that we have an advantage and where there is no competition. We will never be able to produce broccoli cheaper in St. Lucia, or iceberg lettuce, or chicken, and anyone harbouring that dream is in fantasy. However our exotic organic golden apple, sugar apple, pommerac, sour sop, caimate, and mangoes have no competition.
I do not believe that the fullest potential of the local agriculture sector has been explored. We have not had a coordinated approach and initiatives that may have been sound and started by one administration were stopped by another. We certainly have the skills set in the country with some very experienced professionals. The following is a possible road map to achieve our goal, which is based on fully utilizing the existing infrastructure;
- Restructure the St. Lucia Marketing Board
- Accelerate the commissioning of the National Abattoir
- Maximize the use of the Agro-Processing plant in Babonneau
- Maximize the use of the Horticultural infrastructure at Union
- Maximize the use of the Tissue Culture Lab
- Encourage the production of exotic local fruits
- Initiate discourse on the possible uses of the Inland Buying Depots
- Maximize the Aquaculture infrastructure at Union
- Restructure the St Lucia Fish Marketing Corporation Ltd
I believe our present Minister of Agriculture has his heart in the right place and does want to see the sector progress; he needs the support for the bold and creative policies that are required at this time.