Hon. Mia Amor Mottley, SC, MP
Transcript:
00:59:55:18 – 01:00:28:26
Unknown
Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Distinguished guests, all. I had indicated that I am not going to do a feature address this morning. I am suffering badly from chronic sinusitis and have a day full of voice events, especially at the end of this financial year. Today we are in Parliament and I think that would explain to you why a number of us are also trying to juggle a number of things today because it is the end of the financial year.
01:00:29:22 – 01:01:08:22
Unknown
But I wanted to be here to signal the Government’s support for this project because as we have indicated over the course of the last few years, agriculture and health, in my opinion, were the stepchildren of independent by various and to that extent, the declines that we have seen over the course of the last five decades have to be arrested if we are to be true to being able to maintain ourselves and to ensure that we are not totally dependent on others for the most basic needs of life, which is food and water.
01:01:09:16 – 01:01:50:14
Unknown
There is no way that we can proceed in a world that is facing the existential crisis of climate without better preparing our citizens and ensuring that the knowledge that is necessary for people to continue the practice of good husbandry and in terms of increasing use for crops, can in fact be shared with our citizens. Similarly, we have accepted that Barbados has the potential to be a major agro processing site with its expertise and its its advantages and logistics as compared to most of the countries in the region.
01:01:51:01 – 01:02:25:01
Unknown
To that extent, in addition to deepening our levels of production, we want to be able to supplement it with access to produce from Guyana, from Suriname and from other Caribbean countries. Because if we can reach the levels of international certification and export with the level of flights and maritime vessels that we have coming to us on a weekly basis, then we believe that there can be a bright future to trigger further growth in this economy in the area of agro processing.
01:02:25:23 – 01:02:50:12
Unknown
I’d like to salute the Edgell family for the donation and also the governments, agencies and the Ministry of Agriculture who were able to play a part to ensure that this donation became real. Secondly, I’d like to commend the University of the West Indies with respect, understanding that research is going to be critical. Netherlands is not a large country.
01:02:50:29 – 01:03:29:12
Unknown
In fact, the Netherlands is smaller than Suriname, in spite of the fact that the Netherlands has 17 million people and Suriname has 580,000. But the Netherlands is a global leader in the production of food and in fact may be in the top three producers globally of food. That tells us all that we need to know that our ambition to be able to significantly increase food production in this country must be buttressed not by the plantation model of agriculture, but by an infusion of technology and capital and passion on the part of our citizens.
01:03:29:22 – 01:03:56:26
Unknown
While reinforced by global certification to ensure that we can do much, much more in a more effective and efficient way taking care of our own needs for food security. But at the same time, ensuring a platform for expanded economic opportunities and exports. The other major frontier for us as we go forward will be in the area of aquaculture and my culture.
01:03:57:12 – 01:04:22:10
Unknown
And we’ve made it absolutely clear that a country that has this level of tourism profile and exposure cannot continue to simply see itself as importing all of its needs, but can in fact produce enough for ourselves and the rest of the region in terms of prawns and in terms of other types of fish, both in terms of freshwater fish and ocean fish.
01:04:23:10 – 01:05:03:27
Unknown
Barbados, maybe a small island developing state, but it is a large ocean state and must come to accept, therefore that the development of its maritime resources is absolutely critical, while ensuring that there is no overfishing and depletion of stocks. In a way that will cause the world to suffer. The last point that I want to make is that so committed, are we to this journey that the Ministry of Agriculture has received in the estimates of expenditure and revenue which have been passed by the Parliament and will be applicable from Monday or technically Saturday?
01:05:05:09 – 01:05:38:14
Unknown
But I don’t want anybody to believe that April Fool’s is an April Fool’s joke. So I say Monday. But technically what it will do is see the construction of a new tissue center lab, tissue culture lab, sorry for the Ministry of Agriculture to be able to significantly expand its research and to be able to provide the considerably greater months of plant and material necessary in order to move to industrial scale in this country.
01:05:38:20 – 01:06:08:15
Unknown
With respect to certain crops, the Ministry of Agriculture has chosen sweet potatoes and peppers as the first two crops that it would like to see this significant expansion in. And with respect to both. They are considerable global markets, not to mention the continued desire domestically and regionally for these produce. I believe that this partnership here is just the beginning of other partnerships.
01:06:08:26 – 01:06:45:23
Unknown
We’ve already in discussion with the Kingdom of the Netherlands for technical expertise and cooperation in the areas of agriculture and water. And we are only this weekend I made contact with the Chancellor of the University of Guelph and the Director of External Services to facilitate further cooperation between the Government of Barbados and I hope the University of the West Indies as we go forward to ensure that we will be globally cutting edge in research in the few areas that we choose to do it.
01:06:46:02 – 01:07:23:07
Unknown
We do not need to be a jack of all trades, but we do need to master a few and way. This is the country that led the world in research in cane breeding in the 19th century. This is the country that was responsible for the development of the great fruit as a cross between the Charlotte and the Orange and it cannot be acceptable that having done all of that work that we know at a time when technology is even more aggressively leading the way for research in agriculture, that we are not among those to be counted in the risks.
01:07:23:20 – 01:08:03:24
Unknown
This government therefore provides that commitment to you here today and we simply say that this is a case of the perfect metaphor of a Jimmy Cliff song, that if ever you doubted that perseverance and determination are great attributes, this project here is an indication that you can get it if you really want, and that if we abandoned that desire at any point in the last 12 years, the fact that we are here today shows you that even with the most difficult and complex circumstances, we can rise to the occasion.
01:08:04:13 – 01:08:40:20
Unknown
My last words of gratitude go to the government of the People’s Republic of China, who continue to be a good friend to the people of Barbados and the government of Barbados. The Ambassador has already pointed out that in the last year we have signed a module with respect to the grant for the gift of a national stadium at the current site, and that we have also agreed prior to that to a low interest concessional loan for the Scotland District Road Rehabilitation Project, which as you know, has already started.
01:08:41:05 – 01:09:09:16
Unknown
The fact that these two projects at Hope and at Jewkes took as long to come off the ground and that they continued to commit the funding in spite of it, is an indication of the depth of the friendship and the bonds between our two countries. Ambassador, please extend to your government and to your people our greatest gratitude. We could never have planned for COVID and we could never have planned for the other things that have interfered in both of our countries lives in the last few years.
01:09:09:29 – 01:09:21:18
Unknown
But this is a testimony to our resilience and our commitment to finish the course. So, ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much. And I look forward to the completion of this project.