FARMING IS A BUSINESS and if farmers are not prepared to make it profitable, they are wasting their time.

That was the strong message sent by Jethro Greene, chairman and chief co-ordinator of the Eastern Caribbean Trading Agriculture and Development Organisation (ECTAD), as he addressed the opening ceremony of the Caribbean Farmers Network Workshop on the Management of Farmers Associations at Blue Horizon Hotel in Rockley, Christ Church, last Tuesday.

Greene urged the gathering of regional farmers to take their practices to "new heights", noting that St Vincent and the Grenadines – where ECTAD is based – was already witnessing how profitable agriculture could be once higher levels of education and skills were applied.

"We have to move toward what I would call a science-based agriculture, with focus on qualitative use of land rather than quantitative use of land.

"We have to use ICT [information and communication technology] to ensure that farming as a business is also very profitable and that people and our population can see agriculture just like they see any other business," Greene told his colleagues from the region.

"Recently, in St Vincent and the Grenadines, ECTAD became a member of the Chamber of Industry and Commerce and someone made a comment: 'That is like mixing oil and water; why?'

"I said: 'Because we want to use traditional private sector techniques and approaches to strengthen agriculture,'" he added. (CH)