Food is the matter, food must come first. This is an old saying as recalled by founder and owner of Noelville industries Mr. Dennis Noel.
Mr. Noel, manufacturer of the world renowned Nut-Med pain relieving oil and spray along with several other agro-industrial products said it is only by developing our agriculture and producing more of what we eat will we be able to stave off the effects of increasing food prices on the world market.
He said it is obvious that food production is coming in for a lot of competition from other uses of the products that provide food.
The competition he recognizes mainly comes from the bio-gas and the ethanol industries which are using plant and vegetative matter including sugar cane, corn soy beans for production of these commodities.
“These things are being done in Brazil, USA and Europe for example and all these diversion of items that are usually used to feed humans and livestock to producing bio-fuel are related to the drive to reduce carbon dioxide emissions in the environment and the control generally of greenhouse gases.”
As it now stands the amount of food available for consumption is becoming less since so much of it is being diverted to the quest for cleaner air therefore the law of supply and demand drives the cost up.
Noel said this is just the beginning so as Grenadians we have to thrive towards self sufficiency in food. He said the reality now is that we import most of our food. Importing rice, flour, milk, chicken and many other staples means that we are far from self sufficient.
When these things become diverted to another uses he said the cost is going to go up because it is now a scarcer commodity. Once the cost of the raw material goes up obviously the cost of all secondary and other value added products will increase as well Noel pointed out.
The manufacturer and agricultural enthusiast is not surprised therefore at the rate of inflation we are presently experiencing. Referring to a recent issue of the Financial Times he said it showed that in the last year the rate of inflation that has been taking place in the United Kingdom, other parts of Europe and even China has been very high in particular as it relates to food items. All these societies are affected by the use of food items for fuel production.
This state of affairs Noel said calls for more efficient use of the resources that we have. If we are going to be farming we have to be more efficient farmers. He said optimum yield management is necessary, so is high levels of productivity.
He complained that in a small island like Grenada with a significantly rural community, we depend on farming and agriculture for our basics yet we have so much land not being used, or under- utilized. “We are extensive farmers rather than intensive. We therefore have to use our limited land resources more intensively since there are competing forces out there.”
Noel went on to explain that in cases where we might be accustomed to getting a yield of 1 ton of a certain crop to an acre of land for example we may have to try and quadruple that yield to four tons to the acre.
The devoted agriculturist is worried by the declarations in some quarters that there is no future in agriculture and we therefore have to turn to areas like tourism for our salvation. He insists that we have to instead marry the two and blend agriculture with tourism.
 He said he has noticed in Grenada and other islands trying to place an emphasis on tourism that we are gradually becoming a society of consumers rather than producers. “We are supermarket shoppers while our lands are lying fallow and therefore it has a lot to do with the educational system”.
Noel insists that we have to start in the schools and the homes where the family should be involved in doing something related to agricultural production regardless to how small it is.
We should start to get the children involved in doing something rather than going to the supermarket and leaving the land idle because food prices will not go down in the foreseeable future.
We have to gradually get back to self reliance at the home level Noel said. In the past children had animals that they were expected to take care of and rear to maturity?  All these things have largely been discontinued while children have become glued in front of the television and other gadgets.
We are being spoilt to our disadvantage without even realizing it Noel said, we really have to get something moving in our educational system and it can’t just be the school gardens and teaching agriculture but it must extend to the homes.
Agriculture in Grenada, if it is to move forward has to do so, on three fronts the active farmer said. One front is projects for the home consumption, one for local markets and one for export.
In addition, whatever we do must be done efficiently because the land is becoming a scarce resource since all the estates that were once used for agricultural production are now being turned into real estate property for housing or tourism development and agricultural development is not taken seriously.
Noel is further convinced that the future of the industry rests firmly on the shoulders of the young people.  The majority are not following in the footsteps of their parents and this augurs ill for traditional crops such as nutmegs because after the older farmers have passed there will be no one to follow up after them.
The young people are not convinced that the income they can derive from growing these crops would be comparable to what they would earn if they take a job in some business place or government ministry.
Noel feels that there is a desperate urgency for this matter to be taken under control. In fact, he said it should have been done a long time ago. He said the situation is going to get worse and therefore we must start immediately to put some systems in place.
People in the decision making process, at policy level he thinks have failed to recognize the seriousness and the consequences of the lack of attention being given to farming in a structured way and they should because we will not be able to afford the rising food prices.
“There must be an objective to our agricultural development, we must understand that we are not farming just to keep people occupied but we are farming to feed our family first then income generation.
Too many people are depending on somebody else’s initiative to feed them. He said we need to return to the days of farmers clubs or village councils led by an elder.
These committees would determine what crops should be produced in a particular zone. Seedling centers would be set up throughout the country to provide planting material for the respective regions.
You start with the children in the schools first but every home must have a plot of land and get the children used to grow something, helping to change their mentality.
These days people don’t even go to work with food but buy lunch in food boxes when they should be preparing their own healthy meals at home.
In addition, the more we produce for consumption the more disposable income will be available to us.
Noel said food is taken for granted but food prices are going to get so high that people will not be able to afford it hence we have to embrace technology and become efficient in production.
People at policy level must realize where we are and where we will be going if we continue with business as usual then they have to do something about it urgently.