The way I see it, I agree with the biblical admonition: ‘By the sweat of our brows, we shall eat bread.’
I had a look at day one of our annual Agricultural open day, on Thursday 28th March and I was amazed at what I saw.
I mean, we here in Nevis, do produce some seriously lovely fruits and vegetables, by God’s grace!
I went to St. Kitts earlier that day, for a very significant event and when I returned to Nevis, I saw a whole ton of flowers, other plants like Polly mango trees etc. on the pier, ultimately bound for St. Kitts.
You don’t want to see the boat load of stuff that our Kittitian friends bought and took back home in one day.
Well I newa!
I was convinced that when I got to the Park, that up there would be sparsely populated, in terms of fruits and vegetables. To my amazement, lots of stuff remained.
I mean we have produced a lot of stuff and we still bawling for monkeys and to a lesser extent –donkeys!
So, I am here to tell all of the famers on the island: ‘Do not give up! Do not just throw your hands into the air and say that you quit, because the monkeys are damaging your crops.
Hey, the monkeys can’t and won’t eat all!
Yes, I know we can fence out the donkeys, but we can’t fence out the monkeys, but we still have to plant.
It’s those solid stuff that we plant locally, without all of the chemical additives that lend to longevity of vibrant life.
Planting our own stuff, also reduces our import bill and puts our beloved country, in a better economic standing.
Sometimes, people may mean well but end up doing more harm than good.
I am sure that you are aware that when the tourists visit our shores, that can either help to make or break our tourism product-right?
Well, trust me, more often than not, when they return to their land of origin, loads of them make comments via Facebook or in other media outlets, which will include praises to the hotel workers; the taxi drivers etc or it could well be the exact opposite, where they criticize in a big way, the service that they were afforded.
Guess what? The negative comments get the most attention, as some would be visitor to our shore, makes up his/her mind if he/she will visit the island paradise.
I don’t know if you heard about this visitor to our shore, who made mention in her blog, that Nevis was an ‘unspoilt and beautiful island, with a population of about 10,000.00 people.’
Now if she had only stopped there, we would have lived ‘happily ever after……’
She however, went on to say, that the donkeys outnumber the people—‘everywhere you turn, there is a donkey, she said’
Well I newa!
That gives the impression that if you turn to your right, there is a donkey; you turn to your right, there is a donkey…
So, If we have so many donkeys, how in the world are we able to produce such lovely, healthy looking fruits and vegetables.
As regards the monkeys, a fella in Barbados once told me that he plants his crops in a unique manner.
He plants several rows of the crop, close to the edge of the land, close to where the monkeys will make their grand entrance from the bushes and he says that they will concentrate on those and would not touch the main crop, some distance away.
So, it means then, that we have to come up with innovative and creative ideas-not only in planting, but PROTECTING OUR CROPS.
I recently drove through a section of St. Kitts and you don’t want to see the scarecrows> A piece of plastic on a stick!
At least those farmers are fighting back against the spunky pests.
So, farmers, be not weary in wall doing. We produce the best crops and they are healthy and nutritious.
Don’t let either the ‘two –foot’ or ‘four foot ‘predators’ deter you.
Only now I really understand what God meant when he said in Genesis 3:
‘17 And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; 18Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; 19In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.’
So, until we return to the ground, let us ‘dress and keep the garden,’ as God instructed Adam.
That‘s the way I see it. How do you see it?