(Excerpts of Dr. Godwin Friday’s presentation at a Public Meeting in South Central Windward)
Agriculture is the backbone in this constituency. It is our view that a brighter future cannot come without a revived agricultural sector. That is how important agriculture is to us in the New Democratic Party. James Mitchell understood that in the years when he was in office. What did he do? He subdivided land, gave it to the farmers, and he said to them, go out and do your thing.
They went out and they grew crops and added more land. They became more prosperous and sent their children to school. Some of them won’t go back to the land but it’s alright because you have other opportunities but you must never forget the land. We must never forget where it all started and we must never forget the potential and the contribution that the land makes to prosperity and a good living in St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
But it would not come just by talking about it. We have to make sure that we have plans in place to bring it about. But first of all, you must have a belief. You have to understand that this is essential to the prosperity of our country; not something where you’re just handing out some water boots and some implements to farmers from time to time and make them feel that somehow, they’re getting hand out from government, and they should be satisfied with that. You must have a plan, an essential part of the development plan for the country and then set out how you’re going to accomplish that. We have put together a plan in the New Democratic Party. We have the plan to do it because it started with a commitment from us, a commitment that agriculture will be an important part of the future.
Agriculture used to be one of the most important contributors to the foreign exchange earnings of this country. It used to be one of the biggest employers. It used to be one of the biggest money earners for ordinary folk around the country. Now people have land but we’re growing elephant grass. They have land that is just empty; not yielding anything. How are we going to change that? We got to have a belief that agriculture is our future. You heard us talk about the pillars of the economy. It’s not magic. What we have said is, that in order for us to be a prosperous country, you must have a plan to develop the economy. You can’t just go out and beg for everything. You can’t go and borrow everything because you got to pay it back. So how are we going to pay back? We have to earn. And agriculture earned us a good living in the past.
So, agriculture is a part of the economic strategy of our country. It’s part of the four pillars of the economy that we speak so much about. And all that means is this, if you think about it this way, you have a house and you’re building it. You need a solid foundation, which is what we provide in the leadership of the NDP. And you need to have the pillars that hold it up. And then all the other things that come after that, a good education system, proper health care system, roads without potholes, security because you’re putting money for the police. All of those things come from having a thriving, successful economy. So, we have to build them up. That is how we have constructed it in our plans and our discussions and our conversations with people. And we are not just talking out the top of our heads. We had consultations with farmers. We had very meaningful discussions with farmers. We continue to do it because we visit these communities.
I’ve been up to Montreal so many times. Every time I see the disgrace that they call a Montreal greenhouse park, it makes me wonder, who built it? Why they built it, and why they allowed it to run down the way it is? Nobody who is the Minister of Agriculture should come to you and tell you he has a plan for that park. You should run him. Because it has been there so long, so many years, and you know how it was built? The European Union gave money, not just to St. Vincent. They gave to St. Lucia, Belize and other countries as part of a project called (BAM) which is the Banana Accompaniment Measures initiative. And they were supposed to use that money to diversify the agricultural sector, the farming sector, introducing animals and different crops.
They said that this is a project where you build the greenhouses to show the way forward in agriculture. Because now you have a different way of producing that will make it more efficient, more productive, and the farmers can earn more. So, this is supposed to be a demonstration project. It is supposed to show us the way forward. Yet they built it and they left it there to run down. How can you come to farmers and tell them that you have the interest of farmers at heart when somebody gave you money and said, listen, go build this thing. We think this is the way because they identified with it. They said this is what we want you to do. So, people tell you, okay, here’s the money, go do it. This is the way forward. This is how we’re going to show farmers how we can reinvent farming, so to speak, so that it becomes more productive and people can continue to make a living from it. They left it to run down and they leave it there and they’re telling you that they care about farmers.