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Minister of Agriculture Food, Fisheries and
Water Resource Management, Dr. David Estwick, speaking passionately during his
address at the National Consultation on the White Paper for Agriculture
yesterday at the Savannah Hotel. Dr. Estwick indicated that he would resign if
his adminstration does not take the agriculture sector seriously.
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The agricultural sector in this country is in
need of a medium term development plan.
That was but one of the frustrations voiced by Minister of Agriculture Dr. David Estwick, as he lamented the slow pace of diversification within the sector and, by extension, the lack of development.
Estwick, who also holds the Cabinet portfolios for Food, Fisheries and Water Resource Management, said that successive governments have failed to diversify the agricultural sector and he added that the same ideas that were being promoted as far back as the 1950s are still taking centre stage today. In a wide-ranging address about the agricultural sector, the Minister said that unless somebody is prepared to do what has to be done, he is afraid that the agriculture sector would not move forward.
The Agriculture Minister went as far as to tell the sizable audience of stakeholders gathered at the Savannah Hotel for the National Consultation on the White Paper for Agriculture, that he was fed up that such development was not being taken seriously and he contended, “It is either that my administration is going to take it serious[ly] or I will resign – simple as that. I don’t waste my time, I don’t butt my head against a wall – I either move the wall or I [am] gone.”
Estwick maintained that a medium term development plan was necessary to feed into a long-term development plan to take the sector forward. Moreover, he said that such a plan was lacking because there is a view that Barbados should be a service-driven economy and that, he charged, is the reason why with every recession dating back to the 1970s, Barbados has experienced significant fallout.
Additionally, the Minister expressed concern that his Ministry only receives 1.5 per cent of the national budget, while other countries that understand the importance of agricultural diversification and the contribution of the sector to economic growth and linkages, are spending between six and seven per cent.
“...We are at 1.5 [per cent] and decreasing. So this slow pace of diversifying the Barbados economy is exactly why it is the external shocks become so debilitating to us – because we have no counter,” he said.
The Minister continued, “[But] until we make a concerted effort not to have the Barbados economy be dependent only on tourism and related international business and financial services, we will continue to make the same mistakes we made in the 70s, 80s, 90s and we are making now.”
Overlooked
Moreover, he said that successive governments did not understand and take advantage of the linkages that could have been developed with the health care sector, energy or even tourism. Likewise, he lamented that over the years, the country has failed to see the benefits of technology to agricultural production.
“So we never saw that if we went forward and established a cogeneration plant from the production of biomass – as we are trying to do now with the transformation of the sugar industry to a sugar cane industry – that we would save $50 million in the import of diesel. We never saw that the production of the 23-megawatt plant, cogeneration plant at Andrews – that we are pushing hard to produce – would result in 150 000 megawatts of electricity being produced in Barbados, so that you can now have 75 000 household be supplied by the sugar industry and related biomass. We didn’t understand those things, so we did nothing to execute the transformation,” he said.
Estwick further suggested that the linkages he highlighted would execute the transformation of the local agricultural sector that is urgently required, but that it cannot be fully achieved with only 1.5 per cent of the national budget. He therefore suggested that it will require other investment structures to be put in place that would encourage the private sector to become involved at the level of financing and at the level of joint venture relationships with the Government. (JRT)
That was but one of the frustrations voiced by Minister of Agriculture Dr. David Estwick, as he lamented the slow pace of diversification within the sector and, by extension, the lack of development.
Estwick, who also holds the Cabinet portfolios for Food, Fisheries and Water Resource Management, said that successive governments have failed to diversify the agricultural sector and he added that the same ideas that were being promoted as far back as the 1950s are still taking centre stage today. In a wide-ranging address about the agricultural sector, the Minister said that unless somebody is prepared to do what has to be done, he is afraid that the agriculture sector would not move forward.
The Agriculture Minister went as far as to tell the sizable audience of stakeholders gathered at the Savannah Hotel for the National Consultation on the White Paper for Agriculture, that he was fed up that such development was not being taken seriously and he contended, “It is either that my administration is going to take it serious[ly] or I will resign – simple as that. I don’t waste my time, I don’t butt my head against a wall – I either move the wall or I [am] gone.”
Estwick maintained that a medium term development plan was necessary to feed into a long-term development plan to take the sector forward. Moreover, he said that such a plan was lacking because there is a view that Barbados should be a service-driven economy and that, he charged, is the reason why with every recession dating back to the 1970s, Barbados has experienced significant fallout.
Additionally, the Minister expressed concern that his Ministry only receives 1.5 per cent of the national budget, while other countries that understand the importance of agricultural diversification and the contribution of the sector to economic growth and linkages, are spending between six and seven per cent.
“...We are at 1.5 [per cent] and decreasing. So this slow pace of diversifying the Barbados economy is exactly why it is the external shocks become so debilitating to us – because we have no counter,” he said.
The Minister continued, “[But] until we make a concerted effort not to have the Barbados economy be dependent only on tourism and related international business and financial services, we will continue to make the same mistakes we made in the 70s, 80s, 90s and we are making now.”
Overlooked
Moreover, he said that successive governments did not understand and take advantage of the linkages that could have been developed with the health care sector, energy or even tourism. Likewise, he lamented that over the years, the country has failed to see the benefits of technology to agricultural production.
“So we never saw that if we went forward and established a cogeneration plant from the production of biomass – as we are trying to do now with the transformation of the sugar industry to a sugar cane industry – that we would save $50 million in the import of diesel. We never saw that the production of the 23-megawatt plant, cogeneration plant at Andrews – that we are pushing hard to produce – would result in 150 000 megawatts of electricity being produced in Barbados, so that you can now have 75 000 household be supplied by the sugar industry and related biomass. We didn’t understand those things, so we did nothing to execute the transformation,” he said.
Estwick further suggested that the linkages he highlighted would execute the transformation of the local agricultural sector that is urgently required, but that it cannot be fully achieved with only 1.5 per cent of the national budget. He therefore suggested that it will require other investment structures to be put in place that would encourage the private sector to become involved at the level of financing and at the level of joint venture relationships with the Government. (JRT)
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