Growing more food part of greening the economy

THE Barbados Green Economy Scoping Study is a document laden with examples of how the country can “march back to some of the standards that made us a great Small Island Developing State”.

 

This was the view expressed by Minister of Environment and Drainage, Dr. Denis Lowe, as he spoke on a Resolution concerning the Study, in the House of Assembly on Tuesday.

 

Noting that the Study, officially completed in June 2014, focuses on five key sectors (agriculture, fisheries, building, transportation and tourism) in Barbados to scope the transition to a green economy on the island, Lowe suggested that the Study will not be shelved, but utilised in the process of making the country more sustain-able going forward. He pointed to agriculture as one area which could serve the country well, by placing a dent in its high food import bill, if only we could grow more of what we eat.

 

“If we are going to be able to (cut back) … the size of our food import bill … as we are doing with our energy import bill, if we are going to be able to do that, we must grow more of what we eat, more of what we consume in Barbados,” Lowe said.

 

“We plant more flowers and grass now than we plant food. But once upon a time round the house, there would always be what we call a kitchen garden. Nowadays, we want the big pretty lawn and all the beautiful flowers and we don’t grow (anything) around the house anymore, at all. And I am saying that a lot of those values that (focused on) how we lived then, are some of the same values that this Study seems to be promoting among our population,” he further stated.

 

Lowe also suggested that by growing more local food, other sectors can benefit, for example, that of tourism.

 

“We have grown in our hotel stock, but we have not grown in our food production stock. Hotels are now a high demand entity in the country and tourists who are used to eating processed food where they are coming from, want to come and indulge in local vegetables and fresh fruits … so we have to understand the connection,” he said. (RSM)