Urgent intervention needed at Ministry of Agriculture

In a published article in April 2024, I highlighted the numerous failures of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Nutritional Security.

These include, but are not limited to, the failed medicinal cannabis project despite the spending of more $15 million on the initiative, inability to reduce the food import bill, abysmal failure of the Farmers Empowerment and Enfranchisement Drive (FEED) programme, virtual cessation of the cotton industry, embarrassingly low production of onions, inefficiency in the functioning of the Barbados Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation (BADMC), and the secrecy surrounding the hastily-arranged transitional arrangement in the sugar industry involving CoopEnergy.

The article identified a number of structural weaknesses at the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Nutritional Security which are hampering its ability to develop the agricultural sector. These include ineffective leadership and lack of strategic planning, an insufficient number of experienced employees trained in key areas of agricultural science, unmotivated extension officers, lack of scientific research capacity and insufficient laboratory capability.

At the practical level, the farmers are confronted with numerous challenges. These include lack of access to water and suitable land for agriculture and the prohibitive cost of water with the irrational decision to increase the price of water from 66 cents per cubic metre to $1.80 per cubic metre in BADMC irrigation districts. Other challenges are the lack of marketing support, lengthy response times to address the concerns of farmers, and the lax administration of the import licensing regime which results in imported agricultural products crowding out local production.

Since the publication of the article, two new issues with potentially devastating consequences have emerged at the ministry. First, the struggling BADMC has no oversight body. The term of the last Board of Directors of the Corporation expired three months ago. Hence, no guidance in accordance with the BADMC Act has been provided to the management of BADMC for the last three months.

Is the absence of an oversight and policymaking body at the Corporation a manifestation of ministerial inertia, or is the void a signal being sent by the Mottley administration that the closure of BADMC is imminent? The employees of BADMC and their representative should pay close attention to the recent development given the administration’s commitment in the second International Monetary Fund (IMF)-supported Barbados Economic Recovery and Transformation (BERT) programme to advance the delayed restructuring of state-owned enterprises during the financial year.

The second new issue relates to the outstanding payments for the canes delivered to the factory during this year’s crop. The second payment, which was due in July, has not been paid. Also, it is unlikely that the final payment for the canes will be made by the due date in September.

The lack of timeliness in payments creates cash flow problems for sugar cane plantations and undermines the preparation of the fields for next year’s crop. It also affects planting for the 2026 crop. This unfortunate situation is untenable given the existing insignificant acreage of land under sugar cane cultivation.

The ironic thing is that the Barbados Agricultural Business Company Limited (ABC), the CoopEnergy-owned company that took over the field operation from the state-owned Barbados Agricultural Management Company Limited (BAMC) on January 1, 2024, might also be experiencing cash flow problems because of the late payments by the government.

Given the numerous problems facing the agricultural sector, I reiterate my call for the slide at the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Nutritional Security to be halted with alacrity. A well-resourced ministry with creative and focused leadership and an enlightened agricultural development policy is necessary to breathe fresh life into the agricultural sector.

Anthony Wood is a senior economist, former lecturer in Economics, Banking and Finance at the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus. He is also a former Cabinet minister.

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