Business View Caribbean - May 2015 27
“It’s very difficult,” she said. “What we’ve been trying
to do is work with the schools, trying to get that mind-
set in there about how important agriculture is. But it’s
difficult because I don’t think even the politicians see
agriculture as that important. They don’t connect it to
being able to feed its people.”
The Land for the Landless program is a government
initiative where arable land, both private and public, is
made available through lease or license arrangements
to bona fide farmers who otherwise would not be able
to have access. A range of diverse agricultural projects
is encouraged, with emphasis being placed on enter-
prises with the greatest projected social and economic
benefits.
The program is designed to empower Barbadians not
only to provide for their families through agrarian re-
form, especially in rural areas, but also to increase the
productivity of value-added agricultural products that
will enable Barbados to become less dependent on
imports.
Its specific objectives are the procurement and distri-
bution of public lands at Bawdens, Sedgepond, Hag-
gats, Greenland, Turners Hall, Pine Basin and Spring-
hall – as well as private lands at various locations – to
establish a database of agricultural land, to facilitate
development of communal grazing areas at Turners
Hall and Shorey Village and to provide marketing as-
sistance to farmers in the program.
The government has lowered the threshold for land tax
rebate and waived the property transfer tax payable by
private land owners who make their land available for
a period of no less than 10 years.
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