Dreaming of Cotton: Barbados pushes the envelope

 

 The island of Barbados wants to increase cotton output by about 1000 per cent and hopes both farmers and pickers will come on board. The local ginnery says it will increase price per pound paid to farmers by approximately 100 per cent and pay pickers 50 cents more.

News source Barbados Today indicates that the island’s sole ginnery is expecting increased production for the 2026. Exclusive Cottons of the Caribbean (ECC) chief executive Adlai Stevenson said the company is targeting expansion of production from the current 22 acres to over 200 acres, responding to strong demand from Italian buyers for West Indian Sea Island Cotton. The company expects to add 100 workers as well. Cotton fields are situated on areas once covered by sugar cane.

Barbados’ cotton grown is ranked among the worlds’ finest, belonging to the species of Gossypium Barbadense. Growing the product requires a warm climate, high humidity and high rainfall. Crops take roughly four to six months for white fibres to emerge for harvest.

Once exported, the West Indian Sea Island Cotton is then used to make fine towels, sheets and clothing among other things.

CEO Stevenson said this year’s harvest had fallen significantly but talks are being held with the Ministry of Agriculture to determine what the 2026 production would be.

A major problem is labour. He told Barbados Today, “We would put out some advertisements to attract individuals to the fields. Because it’s a small acreage, we hope to get a good set of persons in so we can significantly improve the output,” the chief executive said.

“We would want persons to respond when we put out the advertisements for people to come and pick the cotton. We would encourage more farmers to come back to cotton. There has been an increase in the amount of money that we are paying farmers and we will earn the country some foreign exchange.”

He outlined that last season, farmers were paid $4.80 per pound for the lint, but this time around they will receive $7 per pound, Stevenson said. He also pledged to raise cotton pickers’ wages from $2.00 to $2.50 and over per pound this year.

Meanwhile the ministry of Agriculture in the island says land has been identified for expansion and that they will now “bring the stakeholders to the table and get them to take ownership of the industry while the government provides the support.”

It was noted that cotton has been grown in Barbados since the early colonial period when Barbadian planters inherited the crop from the indigenous Arawaks. In the 1650s, Barbados had become the first island in the British West Indies to export cotton to Europe.

Photo: Exclusive Cottons of the Caribbean (ECC) Chief Executive Officer Adlai Stevenson. Source Barbados Today.

Caribbean Money Daily

Caribbeanmoney.blogspot.com

Follow us for breaking news

Contact: austanny@yahoo.com/ 1 876 727 3818

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Kintyre makes US$300,000 investment in Sevens Ice

Image
  Tyrone Wilson Chairman, President and CEO Kintyre Holdings (JA) Limited (KHL) and Seven Kingston Limited, owners of the Seven Ultra Lounge and Restaurant, on January 14 announced a joint venture to launch Sevens Ice. Kintyre Holdings has made an investment in excess of US$300,000 in acquiring an associate stake in Seven and also establishing the start-up for the ice venture. "This initiative addresses Jamaica’s growing demand for high-quality ice, with operations set to begin in Q1 2025," Wilson stated. Additionally, the venture has acquired a cold storage facility to manage its start-up capacity and is exploring the importation of ice to bridge the gap between demand and supply, ensuring a consistent and reliable market presence. Distribution Expansion Wilson said that Sevens Ice has secured a distribution point in Kingston and is in the process of setting up another in St. Catherine to serve the western and central parts of the island. This expansion will ensure broade...
Read more

BCMG increases risk management oversight: Launches surveys-as-a -service

Image
Insurance brokers in Jamaica often send underwriters themselves to survey risks; however, they frequently do not have the technical knowledge required to produce the best results. BCMG Insurance Brokers Limited (BCMG) in response, introduced - in support of the wider brokerage industry - an updated surveys-as-a service product which has been embraced by the wider community as groundbreaking. Senior Risk Manager on the New Business Team of BCMG David Lazarus explains, “We saw where the technical details and in-depth knowledge of the intricacies of business operations were not always being taken into consideration. This was seen as an opportunity to expand into this space.” In 2020, Billy Craig Insurance Brokers and Maritime General Insurance Brokers, MGI, signed an agreement to merge their operations to form BCMG Insurance Brokers Limited. Following the union, the new company has been exploring options to expand the service capability of the brokerage and increase value for clients...
Read more

Headhunting: The art of finding talent in a shrinking labour market

Image
KPMG, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) and BDO -chartered accounting firms and business consultancies - are the main companies to which Jamaican corporates turn for headhunting services. However, there are also sole practitioners who are finding their feet in a climate in which human resource management and talent hunting is in big demand. Also known as an executive search, headhunting differs from traditional recruitment. It is used to hire high level employees such as CEOs. The work of headhunters is getting harder in Jamaica. Wilfred Baghaloo - Partner, Advisory Services - PwC Jamaica comments, “We simply do not have enough qualified persons to provide necessary services to our clients locally and internationally in the financial advisory space. I believe we have reached the point (maybe four years ago) where we need to rethink our working permit immigration plan /approach. “Allowing more immigration and work permits will help us in the financial advisory space and also the country...
Read more