by CARLOS ATWELL

SIR CHARLES "COW" WILLIAMS is not growing enough food for the benefit of Barbados, says Minister of Agriculture Senator Haynesley Benn.

Construction magnate Sir Charles, the largest individual land-owner in the island, should do more with his land than build golf courses, said the minister.

"Sir Charles has been encouraged by the previous administration to see land only for its economic value, hence the golf courses, but that is not my focus.

"Grow okras, [Sir Charles]; grow potatoes, [Sir Charles]; put your money where your mouth is. Land is to produce food," said the minister.

He was speaking to the DAILY NATION yesterday in his Graeme Hall, Christ Church office, after a field day organised for farmers to view the ministry's research programmes.

Meanwhile, Benn said he was satisfied with the work Sir Charles had done in terms of livestock but wanted to see him do more with ground provisions and vegetables like eggplants and peppers which he said had export potential.

"I have no control of Sir Charles' land but as for the lands [the] Government does control, such as Barbados Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation land, we can say to our farmers to put a percentage of their arable land in food. Once that is done, I expect [other] individuals to follow our lead," he said.

These comments follow similar sentiments by general secretary of the National Union of Public Workers, Dennis Clarke, who said Sir Charles should be made to plant at least a quarter of Kendal Plantation in ground provisions instead of growing grass and horse feed crops.

In response, Sir Charles asked why Clarke did not urge the Government, the island's largest land owner, to plant 20 to 40 per cent of its land in crops.

"There is plenty of 'fallow' [unseeded] land in Barbados, including Government land, going to grass," he said.

In addition, he said the work at Kendal was to the benefit of Barbados, with $8 million being spent in a new dairy to improve efficiency as well as a Black Belly Sheep project to prove if these could be alternatives to sugar cane.

He said they also grew 60 acres of corn, 25 acres of potatoes, an acre of peas, half-acre of yams, and two acres of cassava.

Sir Charles added that of the total 480 acres of Kendal Plantation, around 77 acres [around 16 per cent] were currently being used for food crops, and he planned to increase this to 140 acres [around 29 per cent] this year.