Barbados Minister of Agriculture Warns of Impending Drought in 2024: Impact on Agriculture Sector

Barbados’ agriculture sector looks set to face another damaging period of drought in 2024, says Minister of Agriculture, Food and Nutritional Security Indar Weir.

Weir said the country was already feeling the negative effects of this weather in the poultry industry, and on root crop farms, with data in his possession showing that production was especially hard hit.

The St Philip South representative said that on the other hand, the good news for small farmers was that based on the Barbados Physical Development Plan (PDP) as amended in 2023 they would now be able to live on their farms.

Weir was speaking in the House of Assembly Tuesday as debate on the resolution on the PDP resumed.

The minister said regarding water scarcity that “we understand the challenges that our farmers are facing as we go through the droughts during the summer period and clearly what we went through last August through September”.

“If the indicators are correct, 2024 [is] projected to be worse and we understand the heat that we went through during that period where it didn’t only impact on our poultry industry, but it certainly impacted on our root crops,” he told the Lower Chamber.

“And root crops are deep in the soil so clearly if the soils are going to be carrying excess heat, then you can understand that the yields will not be what they used to be.

“And in looking at the figures, or the numbers that have been sent to me so far, I have to be honest in saying that our yields are down with regard to crops like sweet potato and whilst they are up for cassava, we have to find a way to address what the heat is doing with sweet potato,” he added.

Weir said this was why his ministry was starting “to give us an opportunity in a state of the art tissue culture lab that will allow for us to provide clean planting material, but equally to do enough testing to get us to be able to address what is required of us in an environment that is fluid, but at the same time one that we cannot easily predict what will happen”.

He said the PDP “has a set of integrated business options that may be available to people who are involved in agriculture”. This included enabling small farmers to live on their agriculture holdings, something the minister believed would help with the crop theft problem.

“That to my mind represents true change because many farmers have been hit by praedial larcency and many times it takes place because they are not on the scene. So you will find that when they have left the farm to go home that is when praedial larcency can take place,” he said.

“So, if you now have reached the point where you allow for sub division where that farmer can actually live on his farm we have addressed the issues where once upon a time only those on large plantations could live on the plantations.

“And that to me is a tremendous achievement in a small island developing state where we are prepared to step outside the box to create opportunities for people who have said to you this is what we need to address the problem and we have responded,” he stated, adding that “this Physical Development Plan to my mind did more for agriculture, then what critics may seem to want to portray our project”. (SC)