Dis week is agriculture

From Music de week before, ah went to Teachers last week and dis week ah bit ah Agriculture. We will hear all kind ah Theory as to de way forward: What we need to do, Way we need to go and What we need to do to get Way we want to go. One school ah thought say Agriculture, another school say Agriculture dead and Tour-is-him is IT; and still ah next school say go wid IT, Information Technology, ah-crow-name IT. My thing is we must stick wid Agriculture, mix IT wid Tourism and wuk dem to our advantage.{{more}}

Ah believe ah got dis love foh Agriculture from Grampa, he was first ah Preacher-man and second ah Farmer. He ‘mine’ pigs and delivered some ah de biggest pigs to de butchers. Ah remember how he uses to pick de “water-carrier”, de last piglet from de litter which was usually de smallest, but grew de fastest and biggest, he always named it Harvest. When it was Church Harvest, he would sell dat hog to de butcher, put every cent ah dat money in his Harvest envelope and give it to de Church. Dat gift to God was his Tithe and it uses to bring returns dat uses to full up our store houses, our home was never in need; wants maybe, but not needs! Ah did write some years ago dat one ah de reasons why Bananas will fail, is because de majority ah Banana Farmers were not paying dey Tithes, dey were not giving back to de Lord His Dues and in return receive ah blessing. Dey would buy Car and Jeep, build nice big houses, some ah dem running two and three women, but when it came to de Lord’s portion, dey gave nothing. Can ah man rob God?

While dey wuk hard dey were not advised properly about Agriculture. Dey wuk dat soil foh over fifty years wid one crop, Bananas, when de fruits got smaller, dey pump up de soil wid chemical fertilizer, when soil and fruit diseases appear dey pack de plant wid more and more chemicals; “Poison in de Root, poison in de Fruit”. Right now de Banana Fields dead, de soil is over-worked, run down, ah kind ah nervous breakdown, just like when de human body over-worked. Diseases like Mokoo tek control because it met no resistance in de soil. Is dat not how AIDS wuk, de immune system breaks down and de AIDS Virus tek over.

We need to come clean and tell de Farmers de truth dat dem Mokoo fields will never be de same again, dey could safely forget Bananas, and turn dem fields into grass-lands and ley go sheep, goat and cattle in dem. Securing funding foh converting d’s Banana fields into Ranches should now be ah priority.

What is interesting about Agriculture in SVG, is dat when yuh talk wid de Agricultural Officers in de Ministry, dey all have brilliant I-dares, but dey officers have no say; unless de Prime Minister declare ah Agricultural Re-value-shun, it can’t happen. One young Officer is strongly in support of Agricultural Officers conducting classes in Agriculture at de Primary School level. Teach de lickle ones early how to use dey hands and till de soil and plant seeds and reap foods; ah sure way to instill ah love foh de soil into de minds ah de lickle ones. De late Leon Huggins at Richmond Hill Primary School, taught his Standard Three students how to use ah garden fork, hoe and cutlass, set seeds and plant flowers. Dat’s almost sixty years ago. How far have we gone today after ah half ah scent-tree later?

My problem is every time ah write bout Eddy-care-shun ah have to mek mention ah de Re-value-shun. Ah not saying dat de Re-value-shun is not bearing fruits, but Eddy-care-shun is about equipping people with ah knowledge base to enable dem to survive first and foremost. Ah keep saying while it is ah good thing to send our children off to University by de thousands to get dey Degrees, when de come back wid dey Masters and Mistresses, not only will dey be looking foh big salary but dey will be looking foh good food as well, dey got to eat; somebody got to produce all dis food. And so ah begging dat more respect and attention be given to Agricultural Eddy-care-shun as ah Science subject in our schools.

AH MAN OF CAVEER-KASHAW

If and when de Anglican Community get dey Sunday School Program going in full gear again, dey will have to come up wid an Award foh de Sunday School Student of the year and name dat Award after Carlton Williams. Carlton was ah foundation member of the SVG Christian Council in 1968 and was never replaced as de Anglican Representative. He would have served in various capacities on ah number of the Council’s Commissions. But his pet subject was Sunday School, meetings after meetings of de Christian Council he would bring up de subject. He was one from de ole time religion who subscribed to the theory dat de absence of Sunday School, its training and discipline, was ah major reason foh de decay in morals in our society and de high incidences of crimes among de youths. He was not one foh fame and honour, but ah believe he would agree to have his name associated wid such an Award.

He was ah man of Caveer-kashaw, (commitment) dat’s ah word coined from ah ole Vincy character, ah wordsmith named Rear-she. Yes Carlton wore many hats on his small head: Chief Agricultural Officer, ah Big man at Banana Association, Secretary ah de Public Service Union, Christian Council member, he was in whatever de Anglican Church had, from men’s Fellowship to Mother’s Union; ah Forester, senior Lodge-man; ah Gideons Int. and of course Mr Controversy. His last major role was on de Constitution Reform Commission, no doubt de Cheerman PR will have fond memories of Carlton’s contribution on dat body. Bro Williams’ strong point was his frankness, he was no “yes man” at all; no “Silent Majority” person either. He called ah spade ah spade, and said it loudly, too loud sometimes, and if yuh didn’t want him to explode on yuh, don’t challenge him on matters ah principle. He was ah love-able senior citizen who still held de youths dear to his heart. We will miss him. St Peter ah warning yuh, brace yuh self, here comes trouble. Ah have no doubts dat Bro Carlton is already resting wid his Saviour. And wid dat ah gone again.

One Love Bassy.