Farmers urged to plan before planting
Date: Mon
06-Sep-1993
Paper Page: 14
Publication: Daily Nation
Byline: Wynel Applewhaite
PLAN before you plant.
This is the stern advice that was recently offered to food crop farmers during
a presentation entilted, Local Markets for Food Crops -- Influences on the
Market, by Michael Browne, acting manager of the Agriculture Marketing
Services division of the former Barbados Marketing Corporation (BMC).
Browne stressed the point that farmers should be more business-like. He said
they needed to have a proper agricultural marketing policy which would cater
to the demands of both local and export markets.
"No longer can we continue to operate in an ad hoc fashion without planning
production or securing outlets for marketing," he told NATION BUSINESS.
He said if production practices were efficient, the farmer would not have
difficulty in making decisions on whether to sell on the local market or to
export, even though the price paid for export may be nearer to his cost of
production.
He told the producers that irrigation facilities must be updated in order to
have adequate output in the dry season; land preparation should be so
co-ordinated and equipment be made available to facilitate planting for the
known peak periods of demands.
Browne had several questions for farmers including whether they were planning
on continuing in an unplanned production, distribution and marketing system.
"If we are not prepared to become professional and treat agriculture as a
business I would suggest that we get out of the market," he said.
In the BMC's tenth annual report, Browne also addressed the issue of a high
food import bill, which surpassed $200 million in 1991. He said that Barbados
had three major factors that would increase food crop production: arable land,
technology and the expertise.
"We need to rationalise our food import bill in order that we only import
the
things that are necessary to import," he stated.
He noted the level of unemployment in Barbados for 1992 was reported as 23 per
cent in comparison to 17.1 per cent for 1991 and there was therefore a labour
force, trained in most part and capable of production. He however stressed the
importance of farmers being more efficient.