While PM congratulates himself on ECCB lending change to boost food security, Senator Parker says agriculture is failing at home

United Progressive Party Senator Malaka Parker is not at all impressed by the chest-thumping of Prime Minister Gaston Browne, who is claiming credit for a change in the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank's lending policies that, he says, will allow member- governments to invest in regional food security.

Given the Browne Administration’s track record on agriculture and food security, Parker says the boast is hollow. 

Further, she has little confidence that any loan funds it receives for such a purpose will be for the benefit of the sector in general – rather than for specific farms.

Pointing to the Administration’s most recent failure in this area, the Opposition Senator calls out the Ministry of Agriculture for its cancelation of this summer’s PiAngo Fest.

While the unpredictability of the mango harvest was cited among the reasons given, sources from the Round-South area tell REAL News the bigger challenge was pineapples, which – after the long neglect of the Cades Bay fields –  are simply not available to the Government.

Meanwhile, Parker points to the prime minister’s private farm and what she sees as his unfair competition with local farmers, many of whom have gone out of business for lack of support.

“He failed to provide them with proper access roads and  reliable and affordable water,” the senator says, “and has not put any of the billions from the CIP into a sustainable subvention mechanism for farmers.  He has not sought to develop our agro-processing and fisheries industries, either.”

The latter has been a sore point even for those not in agriculture, as, year after year, thousands of pounds of produce are sold at a loss or wasted altogether when there is a glut. This affects mangoes, in particular, even as related products like juices and sorbets continue to be imported.

Echoing the farmers’ grievances, Senator Parker adds: “Meanwhile, the Government continues to sell agricultural lands for housing, including repossessing lands at the Dunbars Agricultural Station to give to ministers to creatively enrich themselves and secure their food!

“But what have they done for food security for the Nation?” the senator asks.  “Nothing! Nothing but trips and workshops for an over-glorified minister of agriculture.”

Ironically, since the minister, Anthony Smith, Jr., reported that Antigua and Barbuda had secured 25,000 acres of prime arable land for farming in Venezuela – nearly two years ago – nothing substantial has been heard of the project.

Reports said, then, it was intended to shore up food security in agriculture and livestock farming with the potential even for export.

Recently, Smith celebrated the completion of a tissue-culture lab at Bethesda, a project undertaken with the Chinese Government.

However, critics assert there is no real commitment to improving the lot of farmers. 

To support their argument, they claim that in the run-up to the April 30 General Election, all the heavy-duty equipment controlled by the Ministry of Agriculture was pulled from the sector and redeployed to constituency clearing in an effort to secure votes – while Diamonds Estate was running to seed.

Shaking her head at the contradictions, Senator Parker says “the disparity between the prime minister’s grandstanding in regional and international spaces and the reality of Antiguans and Barbudans is as shocking as it is frustrating.”