Travel Trends To Watch In 2019 by STAR Publishing

THE STAR Businessweek JANUARY 12, 2019

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Travel Trends to Watch in 2019 The Star Businessweek looks at what lies ahead for the Caribbean’s biggest industry By Catherine Morris, STAR Businessweek Correspondent

The Caribbean welcomed over 30 million visitors last year. Sustaining this growth means keeping at the forefront of industry trends and tailoring the regional product to meet demand. Here’s what’s set to shape the sector in 2019.

Should the world care about Brexit? Under the headline “Brexit Does Not Matter”, a former IMF chief economist published an article on New Year’s Eve that asked a provocative question. Should the world care about the UK’s impending departure from the EU? Page 3

Continued on page 4

Crops take root in unlikely city spaces Paris is giving a new meaning to local food as ingredients that usually travel hundreds of miles bloom in the heart of the city. Strawberries sprout inside a shipping container near the finance ministry, endives grow underground in a former parking lot previously plagued by drug dealers and prostitution, and curly kale is being harvested on the rooftops of chic department stores Page 7

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Considering the Cannabis Question in Saint Lucia By ED Kennedy, STAR Businessweek Correspondent

those caught with a small non-commercial amount. This viewpoint has typically been advanced for a number of reasons: to free up police resources to attend to more serious crimes; so citizens can avoid obtaining a permanent criminal record for a minor drug offence. Also, the widespread use - despite it having been illegal - of cannabis, alongside recognition of its harmful effects (such as they exist), are quite comparable to legal substances like alcohol. This means the momentum behind ongoing investigation and prosecution of offenders has become more and more limited as time has gone on.

Moderation and Opportunity: The Pro-Cannabis Case

Randall Bain, founding member of the Cannabis Movement of Saint Lucia

ecent times have seen the push to change existing laws surrounding cannabis impact in many jurisdictions locally and globally. Nations like Uruguay and Canada have fully legalised recreational cannabis. This change has brought pot dealers ‘out of the shadows’, alongside giving permission for a thriving commercial cannabis industry to grow. Beyond these two nations, many other territories around the world like the US states of Colorado, Michigan and Washington have looked to legalise cannabis, while others have abstained from full legalisation but permitted its sale for medical treatment. These changes all show a very real and substantial momentum

surrounding cannabis legalisation. It’s one that, for better or worse, nobody in the business community could fairly ignore. Whatever your personal view on cannabis legalisation, the benefits of its legalisation and greater adoption are clear. Let’s look now at this new era for cannabis, and what it may mean for business in Saint Lucia and the Caribbean.

The Law of the Land

Unquestionably, there have long been growing voices in the law enforcement and legal communities around the world that have pushed for a change towards the existing law surrounding cannabis use. By no means is that by default advocating for full legalisation of the substance, but instead the push for a more lenient approach to

For Randall Bain, the founding member of the Cannabis Movement of Saint Lucia, a different approach to cannabis is all about taking away the stigma and recognising the benefits that cannabis offers. “To me, when you limit or prohibit access to anything, it adds a ‘forbidden fruit’ element. This is commonly seen with young people,” says Bain. “When I first went to school in Canada at 17, the drinking age was 19. As a result I saw my classmates on weekends got really drunk. But my background saw alcohol treated sensibly and so I wasn’t tempted to drink to excess. It’s the same with cannabis: sensible policy encourages moderate use.” For Bain, the real frustration in the push for legalisation locally is the fact the positives about cannabis are often overlooked in the broader debate. “I’d really like people to understand our perspective here on this. The isolated CBD molecule has no psychoactive properties and is curative — able to treat pain associated with many conditions as an anti-inflammatory. In fact the benefits are quite endless”, says Bain. While he recognises that not everyone locally shares his view, he holds there’s common ground on which people from all perspectives could identify the positives for local business. “When you look at hemp agriculture, it’s very ‘sexy’ to the market compared to bananas or other crops. And really, our food import bill is in the hundred of

“When you look at hemp agriculture, it’s very ‘sexy’ to the market compared to bananas or other crops. And really, our food import bill is in the hundred of millions of dollars annually. If we looked to more hemp agriculture, we could see a newer and more vibrant agricultural sector emerge that helps balance the scales”

millions of dollars annually. If we looked to more hemp agriculture, we could see a newer and more vibrant agricultural sector emerge that helps balance the scales.”

Lighting up Tourism

As well as freeing up legal resources, there is the potential for cannabis legalisation to drive new growth in tourism. Following legalisation of cannabis in Colorado during 2014, in the following year the US state saw 4 per cent of visitors cite the availability of cannabis as the reason they came to visit the state. Furthermore, 23 per cent of tourists said (if not the sole reason) its availability was hugely influential in their decision to visit the state. Alongside opportunity there’s a question of pragmatism here for Saint Lucia. Cannabis tourism will continue to grow. To what extent it remains sizeable — especially if more and more territories legalise it — remains unclear. But there’s an emerging problem of dealing with tourists who may bring cannabis from their native nation to these shores. Certainly every nation has a right to enforce its own laws at the border, but as the regional nations of Jamaica, Antigua and Barbuda, and the Cayman Islands have already undergone decriminalisation of Continued on page 5

Brexit Briefing

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JANUARY 12, 2019

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Should the world care about Brexit? The bloc has always been more than an economic project By Tony Barber, FT Correspondent

nder the headline “Brexit Does Not Matter”, a former IMF chief economist published an article on New Year’s Eve that asked a provocative question. Should the world care about the UK’s impending departure from the EU? Simon Johnson’s answer was emphatic: No. “While Brexit may well prove an unfortunate idea for many inhabitants of the United Kingdom, the likely impact is lower British growth, not a significant disruption of regional, let alone global, trade … Perhaps there is a mad version of Brexit that could have ramifications beyond British shores, but that seems far-fetched,” he wrote. Mr Johnson looked at the issue from an exclusively economic point of view. He may be right that in Buenos Aires, Johannesburg or Kuala Lumpur Brexit will make hardly any difference. Even a decline in the City of London’s importance may not matter much to large parts of the world. However, the EU has always been more than an economic project. Six eminent German politicians and thinkers pointed this out in a recent article for the newspaper Handelsblatt. Here, in the broader non-economic context, lies the true international significance of Brexit. At the heart of the EU’s mission is an ambition to unite the countries of Europe in such a way as to prevent a recurrence of the disastrous wars and social upheavals of the 20th century. Beyond that, the aim is to advance Europe’s commercial, diplomatic and security interests around the world,

Britain is due to leave on March 29, at 11pm GMT. But Mrs May’s struggle to win a parliamentary majority means a delay could become unavoidable

help to set global regulatory standards and act as an anchor of a rules-based international order. Whether you live in Cairo, Mumbai or Wellington, the point to grasp is that, if Brexit happens as scheduled on March 29, it will strike a blow at these EU objectives, potentially to the advantage of China, India, Russia, the US and other powers. As Rosa Balfour writes for the German Marshall Fund of the United States: “Brexit will damage the EU profoundly. It will be the first episode of disintegration, of moving backward in a process that hitherto was seen as irreversible — the end of the ‘ever closer union’ logic.” Thomas Sampson, a London School of

Economics scholar, detects a wider global meaning in Brexit. “The period since world war II has been marked by growing economic and cultural globalisation and, in Europe, increasing political integration under the auspices of the European Union. Brexit marks a departure from this trend … More broadly, Brexit raises questions about the future stability of the EU and the extent to which further globalisation is inevitable.” I would go further still and suggest that Brexit, if it happens, may serve as a cautionary lesson to governments in other continents that hope to enhance regional political and economic integration. The South American countries of Mercosur, the south-east Asian countries of Asean and

others have not gone as far as the EU in pooling national sovereignty. But they may draw the lesson from Brexit that there are natural limits to how far politicians should push such projects. The counter-argument is that Brexit is a one-off, attributable to the UK’s uniquely schizophrenic attitude to its place in European history and culture. After all, no other countries are interested in leaving the EU, whatever the fevered imaginations of Brexiters in the UK’s ruling Conservative party. There is much truth in this — but it would be unwise to underestimate the challenges that will confront the EU after Brexit.

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Travel Trends to Watch in 2019 Continued from page 1

requires a tailored approach with plenty of options. Parents travelling with adult children is a sub-group to watch in 2019. They may be travelling for a special family event such as a wedding, anniversary or reunion, or simply spending time with each other and looking for opportunities to recharge and reconnect. Multi-generational travel also coincides with another important, and growing, niche — genealogy tourism. Finding your roots and tracing your ancestry has become even easier with the widespread use of services such as ancestry.com and DNA testing. The Lonely Planet has identified ‘DNA tourism’ as a trend to watch in 2019 as more families travel to explore ancestral homelands. For the Caribbean, with its mix of both European and African influences, this could signal a rise in diaspora visitors from all over the globe.

Trips with a Theme

Hotel Chocolat ‘s tree-to-bar experience, unique to the Rabot Estate, draws on its expertise as an international chocolatier and as a local grower. The experience starts with a walk through the estate’s cocoa groves, selecting ripe cocoa pods to harvest from the tree, and ends with making your own chocolate bar

Ethical Tourism

Today’s traveller isn’t just looking for a good time, they want to make a difference. Ethical tourism has risen in popularity in recent years and the trend is set to continue into 2019 with even greater interest in supporting and enabling local island communities. “Travel companies are taking different approaches to how holidays can be more sustainable in the long term and create a positive impact on local communities. We can expect to see this trend continue in 2019 and beyond,” says the Association of

British Travel Agents (ABTA) in its 2019 Travel Trends Report. This can create opportunities in many areas, from promoting handmade souvenirs crafted by local artists to encouraging visitors to sample local cuisine and support the domestic farming industry. Small business owners and hoteliers should also see greater tourist traffic as visitors shun generic brands in favour of a more impactful experience. And ethical tourism isn’t just about supporting grassroots businesses and causes. Following the 2017 hurricanes, there was

a notable rise in ‘voluntourism’ whereby visitors came to the most devastated islands to join locals in mobilising funding drives, rebuilding infrastructure, clearing beaches and other much-needed tasks.

Multi-generational Travel

Millennials may have dominated industry trends in 2018, but 2019 belongs to the family. This year everyone will be included in vacation plans — from kids to grandparents and everyone in between. Catering to a multi-generational group

Themed travel is a broad category that offers a lot of opportunities for tourism operators. No longer content with just lounging pool-side, these visitors plan their trips with a mission in mind, whether exploring history and culture or roadtripping with foodie friends. Caribbean cuisine is popular all over the world but there’s no better place to enjoy it than in an authentic island kitchen. Homemade delicacies are the ultimate souvenir for these tourists, who are prepared to travel for unique offerings and will plan their trips around food festivals and tours. In Saint Lucia this could spell growth for rum distilleries, “down home” restaurants and food tour operators. The Rabot Estate, Hotel Chocolat’s cocoa plantation near Soufriere, has already successfully jumped on this trend, offering visitors a popular ‘tree to bar’ chocolatethemed tour. And expect growth in other themed categories such as music and sports as Caribbean countries look to increase their presence in both markets with internationally-marketed concerts, carnivals, sports tournaments and games.

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Considering the Cannabis Question in Saint Lucia Continued from page 2

BodyHoliday Saint Lucia brings together the idea of enjoying a reviving tropical vacation and indulging in time with a companion

Tech Tours

As technology has continued to infiltrate every aspect of our daily lives, it’s impossible to ignore the repercussions for tourism stakeholders. Whether providing fast and reliable wifi for guests, marketing destinations on social media or providing the very latest gadgets on a cruise, technology will continue to hugely impact the sector in 2019, particularly as new disruptions make it to market such as virtual and augmented reality, big data, facial recognition and Artifical Intelligence. The greatest uptake of innovation has so far been seen in the services sector with hotels, airports and airlines using technology to streamline bookings and facilitate easier travel to and from destinations. Cruise companies are also investing heavily in this area to improve customer experience. On the flip-side, 2019 is also going to see the backlash of all this digitalisation. With technology creeping into more areas of life, there will be a growing number of visitors who go on vacation to unplug. These travellers will be looking for authentic experiences that get them away from their screens, and making memories in real life, building linkages between this niche and wellness tourism.

Wellness

The Global Wellness Institute predicts that wellness tourism will be worth US$919 billion by 2022 when around 1.2 billion wellness trips will be taken all over the world. This niche is one of the fastest growing markets in tourism and includes a wide variety of activities including spa breaks, yoga retreats, fitness camps, meditation vacations and holiday detoxes. Industry group Health and Fitness Travel further identified breaks such as the ‘painmoon’ (a trip taken after a painful break-up, or when grieving), ‘mumcations’ (for stressed-out mothers), ‘sleep performance retreat’ (to catch up on sleep) and ‘fertility trips’ (for couples hoping to conceive). All iterations of this key niche are ripe for exploitation by Caribbean destinations. Given the region’s inviting waters, year-round sunshine and laidback tropical charm, it should be a magnet for tourists seeking a therapeutic break. Saint Lucia, in particular, has the added advantage of its volcanic springs and mud baths which are said to alleviate the symptoms of eczema, arthritis, burns and other skin conditions.

Despite the Cannabis Movement’s prolonged public awareness campaign, Saint Lucia still appears to be one of the least progressive islands in the Caribbean as it relates to capturing the socio-economic benefits of the plant. Jamaica, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, the US Virgin Islands, Antigua and Barbuda, the Cayman Islands and Belize have all made steps in relaxing their prohibition laws. Will Saint Lucia be the last domino to fall?

cannabis, there appears to be a fork in the road up ahead for many local nations, one where retaining the same lure for tourists may require a new view on cannabis.

Where There’s Smoke There’s Fire

While there may be many positives to cannabis, the drawbacks of the pro-cannabis argument can’t be overlooked. Advocates for cannabis often point out the high number of alcohol-related issues in society. Critics reply that, even if it is universally agreed that alcohol is a worse issue than cannabis, simply adding cannabis to the list of permitted substances is not justified on this basis; that such a theory doesn’t solve anything but just risks making the problem worse. And while it’s true that the sky did not fall in on places like Denver following the change to their laws, there has been evidence put forward to suggest social side effects, including a higher number of road accidents. Such an eventuality may not be surprising, but it does confirm that advocates who suggests there are zero issues with a change, are almost as bad as those who suggest that Armageddon will occur if a change is made.

A Burning Issue

The debate surrounding cannabis legalisation will always be controversial; informed not only by legal and medical perspectives but also moral ones. Morals may be a subjective but they underwrite a society’s attitude to fairness, compassion, and the notion of living a ‘good life’. Cannabis’ capacity to be a hallucinogen in a way that alcohol or caffeine (the other commonly legalised recreational substances) are not, unsettles the morality of many. It’s for others to have this debate but, given the changes elsewhere, it may soon be necessary to have it. Suggesting that this would lead to definitive change would be presumptive. After all, just as many territories have ultimately legalised cannabis, so too have others decisively rejected it, seemingly putting the use of its legality to bed for another generation. And if not for recreational use, cannabis for medical use is an important issue to consider. Someone cynical may question what “medical” applications cannabis has, but when confronted with how it can help treat conditions like epilepsy and drastically improve the quality of life, it would surely be criminal to overlook any legal review of its status.

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JANUARY 12, 2019

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ECLAC: Barbados still ‘sick man of the Caribbean’

he Barbadian economy is expected to crawl dead last among Caribbean economies over the past year, shrinking by a disappointing -0.5 per cent last year, the second lowest growth rate region-wide, according to the United Nations economic watchdog for the area. Barbados is expected to have the lowest growth of just 0.5 per cent in 2019, said the latest report from the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC). When lined up against the other 32 nations in Latin America, South America and the Caribbean, Barbados’ decline of -0.5 per cent for the year places it as the economy with the fifth lowest growth rate. Growth is expected to be led by Antigua and Barbuda at 5.3 per cent; Grenada, 5.2 per cent; Guyana, 3.4 per cent; and St Vincent and the Grenadines at 3.2 per cent, it said. Dominica is expected to record a dismal -4.4 per cent decline, while other economies in the region are expected to record between 1.5 per cent and 2.5 per cent growth. But for the coming year, ECLAC is forecasting that Dominica’s economy will lead the region’s growth by a massive 9 per cent expansion.

Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley, leader the Barbados Labour Party government, has been rolling out comprehensive fiscal reforms since her party’s victory in May 2018, but will 2019 prove to be a turnaround year or yet another year of lacklustre economic performance?

Barbados, on the other hand, is likely to see a meagre 0.5 per cent growth. Other regional economies are to experience growth rates between 1.5 per cent and 4.7 per cent. ECLAC said the overall growth for the Caribbean last year will be 1.9 per cent, and 2.1 per cent in 2019. In the three regions, Venezuela will have the lowest growth with a decline of -15 per cent. Also recording declines last year will be Nicaragua at -4.1 per cent and Argentina at -2.6 per cent. Nicaragua, Argentina and Venezuela are also expected to record declines this coming year, according to ECLAC. 2019 “looks to be a period in which global economic uncertainties, far from waning, will intensify and will arise from different fronts”, said the United Nations regional organisation. “This will have an impact on the growth of the economies of Latin America and the Caribbean, which, on average, are seen expanding 1.7 per cent,” it added Unveiling the Preliminary Overview of the Economies of Latin America and the Caribbean 2018 report in the Chilean capital, Santiago, ECLAC’s Executive Secretary Alicia Bárcena said that “public policies are needed to strengthen sources of growth and cope with the scenario of uncertainty at a global level”. The report pointed out that countries in the Caribbean and Latin America would confront a complex global economic scenario in the coming years, in which “less dynamic growth is expected, both for developed countries as well as emerging economies, along with increased volatility of international financial markets”. On top of this, it said, there was a structural weakening of international trade, aggravated by trade tensions between the United States and China. The economic growth projection of 1.7 per cent for Latin America and the Caribbean in 2019 is slightly below what

ECLAC released last October, which was 1.8 per cent. This year’s estimate for Latin America and the Caribbean was also trimmed, from the 1.3 per cent forecast in October, to the current 1.2 per cent. The ECLAC document said “The greatest risk to the region’s economic performance in the run-up to 2019 continues to be an abrupt deterioration in the financial conditions for emerging economies. “The active role of fiscal policy in the region in terms of revenue and spending must be bolstered. In this sense, it is essential to reduce tax avoidance and evasion and illicit financial flows. At the same time, direct taxes and also health-related and green taxes must be strengthened,” said Bárcena. On the region’s spending patterns, the senior UN official said in order to stabilise and invigorate growth, public investment must be focused on projects that have an impact on sustainable development, with emphasis on public-private partnerships and on productive re-conversion, new technologies and green investment. “All of this while protecting social spending, above all in periods of economic deceleration, so that it is not affected by cutbacks,” added Bárcena, who also warned that public debt profiles must be taken care of in light of the uncertainty that could increase their cost and levels. Economic growth in the Caribbean was led especially by tourism and construction. The report said that the Caribbean continued its “fiscal efforts”, leading to higher primary surpluses and a downward trend in public debt. The report recommended that regional economies come up with public policies to strengthen the sources of growth and to face the situation of uncertainty. It also called for a strategic view to grow and face external vulnerabilities, while pointing to the need for greater use of technology, “reinventing regional integration beyond infrastructure and trade”, and changing the export structure through productive transformation and diversity. In launching the Preliminary Overview of the Caribbean 2018, Coordinator of Economic Development Unit of ECLAC, Port of Spain Sheldon McLean said energy independence and diversifying of economy were critical to the region’s sustainability. “Over the years, countries such as Jamaica and Barbados have made significant strides towards increasing their renewable energy production. However, there is room for these efforts to be strengthened in other countries,” he said. Though making no mention of the ongoing Barbados Economic Recovery and Transformation (BERT) programme, which Prime Minister Mia Mottley reported recently has yielded significant economic progress, the preliminary overview document pointed out that Barbados had taken “remedial action” by finalizing a fouryear extended fund facility arrangement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in October.

Agricultural production

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Crops take root in unlikely city spaces Urban farming could produce 180m tonnes of food globally, according to researchers By Josh Jacobs, FT Correspondent

aris is giving a new meaning to local food as ingredients that usually travel hundreds of miles bloom in the heart of the city. Strawberries sprout inside a shipping container near the finance ministry, endives grow underground in a former parking lot previously plagued by drug dealers and prostitution, and curly kale is being harvested on the rooftops of chic department stores. These are a few of the dozens of farms opening in improbable places across the French capital, many of them supported by its city hall. The mayor, Anne Hidalgo, is leasing public land at reduced rates to agricultural businesses and has pledged to turn 30ha of the city into urban farms by 2020. Paris’s agriculturalists are part of a global trend of city farms proliferating in recent years, from the London start-up selling salad leaves grown in a second world war bomb shelter to the New York underground farms producing herbs for luxury restaurants. But are such efforts merely a fad for the local food movement or, as some advocates hope, could inner city agriculture revolutionise how we feed the world’s metropolises and reduce climate change? “Growing food without fields is a clear solution to reliably feed the planet of tomorrow,” says Guillaume Fourdinier, who co-founded Agricool, which grows strawberries in shipping containers and opened its first Paris site in 2015. Mr Fourdinier and his business partner, Gonzague Gru, are both farmers’ sons and wanted the fresh berries they had enjoyed as children in northern France — but in cities and throughout the year. So they refitted steel shipping containers with hydroponics and LED lights to grow fruit without sunlight. Today they produce strawberries in four containers around Paris. Each yields about seven tonnes of strawberries a year, they say, most of which is sold to Monoprix, a French retail chain. Mr Fourdinier says urban farms could be particularly useful in places with poor agricultural climates, such as Dubai, where Agricool’s first container outside France opened in June. “We can grow fruits [in cities] anywhere,” he says. “In China. In the desert.” A few miles from Agricool’s original site, in Paris’s hip Marais district,

Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo has pledged to turn 30ha of the city into urban farms by 2020

another company is going further. On the roof of the BHV department store is a 600 sq m vertical farm, which opened last year and now produces strawberries, tomatoes, wheat, goji berries and sage, among other things. This is one of 10 farms around the city set up by Sous Les Fraises (Under the Strawberries), since it was founded in 2014, including on top of Galeries Lafayette, the famous Paris department store. Yohan Hubert, Sous Les Fraises’ founder, aims not just to reduce food miles. He says urban farms will also make cities more attractive and create a clean energy cycle that both recycles food waste and water and absorbs carbon dioxide. Some academics have pointed to urban farms’ potential downfalls, especially indoor farms that use a lot of electricity and artificial light. Louis Albright, an emeritus professor of biological and environmental engineering at Cornell University explained in a 2014 lecture how some “pie in the sky” vertical farms may use more energy and have higher carbon footprints than traditional methods. Lettuces grown in vertical indoor farms in New York produced more than three times more carbon dioxide than greenhouse farms outside the city because of lighting costs alone, he found, and tomatoes even more. The carbon emissions from growing 4,000 heads of lettuce in an indoor farm in New York would be equivalent to the annual emissions of a passenger car. Paris’s agricultural entrepreneurs are undeterred, and insist that projects can use renewable electricity to reduce their environmental impact. Some, such as

Mr Hubert, say you can’t compare likefor-like energy use because of the social and environmental benefits brought by city farms, such as recycling waste water, educating people on the source of their food and creating urban jobs. Pénélope Komitès, the city’s deputy mayor, responsible for green spaces, also insists that there are multiple benefits. She says urban farms have never sought to make Paris self-sufficient for food but believes they will be of huge benefit to cities if they expand in the right way. “We are at the beginning of a new farming

“Growing food without fields is a clear solution to reliably feed the planet of tomorrow,” says Guillaume Fourdinier, who cofounded Agricool, which grows strawberries in shipping containers and opened its first Paris site in 2015

culture,” she says. “However, we must not do this to the detriment of traditional farming.” Ms Komitès adds that “urban farms are not gimmicks”, but a “trend that will keep spreading” around the world. A study this year by researchers at five universities in the US and China, as well as Google, suggests she could be right. One of the first attempts to systematically analyse the global impacts of city farming, using satellite imaging and population and weather data, it estimates the practice could become a $160bn industry if farms expand across the world’s cities. The researchers see particular potential in the growing cities of Africa and Asia. The possibilities go beyond profits or even reducing food miles. The researchers say urban farming could produce up to 180m tonnes of food each year — about 10 per cent of the world’s pulses, roots and vegetables — create new homes for pest-eating predators, reduce flooding and could reduce electricity use by lowering city temperatures during the summer. Soil on rooftops can provide insulation that keeps buildings cooler without the need for air-conditioning. “Urban agriculture is not going to replace the traditional food system,” says Matei Georgescu, a co-author of the study and professor of geographical sciences at Arizona State University. However, it may well replace part of our food system, he says, and benefit the environment in the process.

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BARBADOS GOVERNMENT TO START AG-TECH VEGGIE PROJECT ‘EARLY THIS YEAR’

high-tech farming project is set to kick-off early this year that could slash demand for imported vegetables by over 80 per cent. The government project comes as a private firm owned by young farmers uses technology in an agricultural project that is intended to eventually feed the entire country while withstanding the threat of natural disasters, said Agriculture Minister Indar Weir. Operating out of a 40-foot shipping container at Hastings, Christ Church, the directors of Ino Grow have developed a hydroponic farm which currently produces lettuce, herbs and other leafy greens. The company is producing non-genetically modified organisms (non-GMO) and herbicide-free crops which can be grown every day of the year. After a tour of the small facility, an excited minister for food security revealed the project had won the support of government. Weir has invited Ino Gro directors Warren Kellman and Rishi Pajwani to be part of a similar programme, to be rolled out by government early 2019. “We are going to get together and we’re going to pull all of the costing together . . . and

Minister Indar Weir (right) under the artificial sunlight provided by the agricultural farm, being schooled by Ino Gro co-directors Rishi Pajwani (left) and Warren Kellman (second right) as mentor Ayub Kola looks on

Ino-Gro Inc. uses high-density vertical farming techniques coupled with automation and remote monitoring software to create a climate-smart food production system

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take agriculture to the next level. But more importantly, we need the scale,” said Weir. Government’s ultimate goal is to produce almost 80 to 90 per cent of some of the vegetables currently being imported, Weir declared. Ino-Gro Inc. uses high-density vertical farming techniques coupled with automation and remote monitoring software to create a climate-smart food production system. “I speak of tomatoes and lettuce of all varieties, and then we are going to look at broccoli as well, because broccoli is one of the vegetables that we import and we have to address that. If I am able to pull all of this together in short time, we then start looking at reducing our food import bill,” he said. Amid the worldwide threat of global warming, Weir praised the new technology for

“We have to look at what climate change is doing to the Caribbean islands, and indeed Barbados is vulnerable to climate change, and if we’re going to get into climate smart agriculture, then this is the way we have to go,” according to the agriculture and food security minister

responding to the growing need for “climatesmart” initiatives. “We have to look at what climate change is doing to the Caribbean islands, and indeed Barbados is vulnerable to climate change, and if we’re going to get into climate smart agriculture, then this is the way we have to go,” according to the agriculture and food security minister. “So that if we get a climate event, we don’t find ourselves without food for extended periods of time . . . We have to be able to protect the amount of food that we are going to need to get through a climate event. We have to protect the seedlings to make sure that we have them at our disposal so that we can continue to grow,” he stressed, while indicating that the use of green energy will also be key to the development of similar initiatives. Weir is particularly excited about the promise of climate smart agriculture for youth. “It excites the younger mind; those people who are coming out of school, who would have traditionally stayed away from agriculture, because they didn’t see it as a career option. But if we could replicate this right across Barbados, all of a sudden we are addressing a 21st century need, where we can create entrepreneurs, through having young people now graduating from university and getting involved in projects like these as businesspeople,” he said. Ino-Gro co-director Rishi Pajwani thanked Weir for giving them a platform to show off the young farm initiatives. He also assured Barbadians that his company is up to the task of reducing the country’s “enormous” food import bill. “We wanted to cut that down as well as educate the youth here in Barbados about agriculture — traditional agriculture. Agriculture is no longer outside, hot sun and breaking your back. It’s now become labour-efficient and easy, so we wanted to inform everyone and the youth to re-innovate the industry and get back into agriculture, because this is where Barbados was born,” said Pajwani. But the new private sector initiative has not come without obstacles. As co-director Warren Kellman put it, the idea was so peculiar to Customs officials that they were sceptical when equipment started coming in. “Customs had never seen something like that before. So when they saw certain pieces of equipment . . . they said they’d never seen something like this attached to farming. We had to work closely with Customs as well, and actually create new entries in their system, so that people who are interested in this type of innovative farming, when they do bring in systems like this in the future, they wouldn’t face issues that we faced, because we tried to pave the way,” he said. Making the process easier is the knowledge that they have the backing of government in their quest to revolutionise Barbadian farming, Kellman said.

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