Collaboration essential for thriving agricultural sector, says veteran agriculturalist

Veteran agriculturalist Clive ‘Bishi’ Bishop has highlighted the importance of a unified approach for agricultural success in St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG), emphasizing that every stakeholder plays a crucial role.

Bishop’s insights were shared during a mini agriculture trade fair organized by the Teachers Co-operative Credit Union (TCCU) and the One St Vincent Group (OSV), where farmers were exposed to equipment and opportunities for enhanced production. The event also saw discussions on tackling the region’s food import bill and fostering new avenues like turmeric cultivation.

“We need a system where everyone has value, from the cart man, to the people who selling the equipment, to the institution that’s lending. Everybody has a part in that system to make something, to add value,” Clive ‘Bishi’ Bishop said on Tuesday.

Bishop brought attention to the region’s food import bill. “The last food import bill from the official data I have for the region, was over US$12 billion… In our subregion, the OECS, our last food import bill for 2022 was 1.5 plus billion Eastern Caribbean dollars, that’s almost $29 million dollars a week of food we import into the region.”

Minister of Agriculture Saboto Caesar, who also addressed the forum disclosed that on September 1, an investor from India will visit SVG to sign a memorandum of understanding for farmers to produce and export turmeric and other spices.

Bishop, who is responsible for handling the operations on the leeward side of the country, expressed his excitement with the project. “We’re developing a turmeric industry here in the region but St Vincent has been chosen to launch it…turmeric now is very important because of the active ingredient in it which medicine has proven, prevents a lot of aliments including a lot of cancers world wide.”

Lennox Lampkin, who has been farming for 12 years spoke about the importance of proper financing, record keeping and data for decision making.

“Another thing that we lack in St Vincent is production planning…we need to have agriculture census, when last did we have one? We don’t have weather information, we don’t have soil information…we need this kind of information.”

He called on the OSV Group to look into the importation of smaller vehicles for farmers in order for them to have easy access to their lands as ‘pick-up’ trucks are too expensive for average farmers.

Tishorn Edwards, a young farmer also shared his story in farming.

“I just want to encourage young people, get into farming, stop waste time on the phone or even if you on the phone, there’s so much information right here [referring to his phone].”

Edwards shared that he had a passion for farming with his father at a young age, adding that he had the opportunity to choose different career paths but farming was the only one he was enthusiastic about.

The enthusiastic young man urged others to not pay attention to the negative remarks that people may make about farming.

“Find a way, you see the negative picture they paint about farming in our minds and in our hearts, before you leave this place today, throw it out…if we don’t take farming seriously and we don’t provide food…how will we eat healthy? And we talking about healthy eating, healthy living and stuff like that.”

Also present at the Trade Fair was Dr Jules Ferdinand from the OSV Group who promised that the group will continue working with farmers and ensuring that they have the best tools. He encouraged lending institutions like TCCU not to turn a blind eye to female farmers as the data shows that female farmers will never default on a loan.

The TCCU announced that farmers may now apply for a specially tailored loanof up to $25,000 once they are members of the institution.