Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley stressed that it is within our power to grow the food we eat, and to cut out unhealthy diets that involve macaroni pie and corn curls. (C.Pitt/BGIS)

Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley is urging Barbadians to be their brother’s keeper by stopping crop thieves in the act of raiding farmers’ lands.

She made this appeal last Saturday as she delivered remarks at an appreciation ceremony at the BARVEN Super Outdoor Market on the Mighty Grynner Highway.

The Prime Minister said: “I want to speak to Bajans now. If you are growing something that you are tending to day after day, how will you feel if someone steals it? How will you feel when the rains come and it does not grow? If we would just start to put ourselves in the position of how others feel, then we would do far better.”

Ms. Mottley continued: “If you see someone breaking somebody ground, stop them, and that has to be the approach across this country if we are going to do it.” 

She said one lesson the COVID-19 pandemic has taught, is that Barbadians need to grow more to sustain the population.  “You start by doing your own thing. I have two sweet potatoes and a yam in my kitchen window growing. I got peppers to the front…I got okras [growing] in pots before I ready to transplant them.  So, all of us can make that difference.”

She told the vendors that if they needed help with training in any aspect of agriculture, they may do so through the Ministry of Agriculture’s Farmers Empowerment and Enfranchisement Drive programme. 

The Prime Minister added that Barbadians must get into the habit of eating healthily, which is not expensive, and stressed that it is within their power to grow the food they eat, and to cut out unhealthy diets that involve macaroni pie and corn curls.

“It is killing us.  It is making you more vulnerable to COVID-19, and I ask us to be able to address every aspect of food production and food security in this country. 

“It is noble; it is the sustenance that we need not only physically, but financially, and I ask Barbadians to allow us to produce what we eat and control how we feel, and how our bodies respond,” Ms. Mottley stated.

julie.carrington@barbados.gov.bb

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