Since the onset of COVID19 many in the Agricultural Sector has been condemning our Ministry of Agriculture and the Minister responsible about the Government's perceived lack of interest in or effort towards agriculture.
As a relatively new farmer, I've deliberately and conscientiously taken a decision to begin my farming enterprise outside of what is the traditional agricultural sector. That meant the the following:
1. Begin growing on a smaller urban plot because seeking state land is a purgatory. 2. Growing organic so as to reduce the requirements for costly inputs such as fertilizer, pesticides and herbicides. 3. Seed saving and selection to ensure I always have a local seed supply. 4. Inter-cropping and Multi cropping to provide diversity of food and natural combat of pests and diseases. Also to minimize the market shocks of oversupply and demand fluctuations which affect mono-culture cropping and the revenue of many farmers. 5. A focus on direct to consumer sales which allows me to be creative in marketing and price setting and allows me to earn fair value for my efforts in the field. 6. Having a very minimal if any reliance on government services as I push on farming.
It is apparent to me that coming off of COVID19 there will be many shocks to industry and a new normal is at hand. Farming as we know it in Trinidad and Tobago is changed forever, of all our public agricultural gurus, NONE are sensitizing their members of this new reality.
Farmers need to retool, redesign their farms, recreate their methods, reduce acreage under cultivation, reduce reliance on large machinery and most importantly RENEW their minds. Farming as known before is no longer and it has been clear for years now.
Everything I've shared of my own methods are not costly to implement. Organic farming is not costly and the only reason organic food is expensive is because it's all imported.
Sidebar..... When Honorable Patrick Manning introduced the Mega Farms, they were based on the Cuban model of Organic Farming. At the time it was roundly condemned as a waste but today the world over, this is the very model of vegetable agricultural enterprise that is exploding across Europe, North America and to a lesser extent in the Caribbean.
As I've shared before... Normal Agriculture is dead. Evolution is upon the Farming Society. Some farms will die and the nimble will survive. Selah!
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