Foreign Agriculture: Philosophy, Psychology

EDITOR: I am not going to the dictionary to source the real meaning of the above caption. To do so would be tantamount to terminating my Vincentian sense of originality which dictates that

I should learn to think for myself by reading into what one is thinking (Philosophy) and the reason for that thinking (Psychology). {{more}}Indeed they go hand in hand. As the scope is broadened, a good understanding of the sad label “underdeveloped countries”, like St. Vincent and the Grenadines with its vast and increasing number of citizens with university education at the highest levels, is demeaning to say the very least.

It’s a pity that we are not yet prepared to retreat into solitude to reflect on the extent to which we have unwittingly fallen victims to the philosophies and psychologies of the so-called developed countries. Its presence is overwhelmingly obvious in our vision of agricultural diversification with our fixation with the folly of earning foreign exchange.

A very simple question: why are we so hell-bent on earning foreign exchange when every single penny-plus is needed to purchase the very commodities that we are more than capable of producing? The time is after midnight and before day for us to read into the philosophy and psychology of our adversaries.

In less than a single year this piece of earth (S.V.G) could become self-sufficient in vegetables, fresh and processed. The physical production of those commodities is not where the problem is at. Vincentian nationalism has to take its rightful place over and above everything else. At present we are miles away from making this all so vital commitment.

January 1, 2006 marked the coming on stream of the Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME) which gives rise to the possibility that Vincentians could wake up one morning to find that the lands ideally suited to grow vegetables could either be leased or purchased by a non-Vincentian entity. God forbids that that should happen.

We can no longer wallow in the brain-washed philosophy and psychology about being non-competitive. Solitude tells us that a nursery for many of these crops would drastically reduce the harvesting time. Why are we continuing to kill our precious time?

Stanley M. Quammie