Eco Learning Week 5 – 6 on History on Agriculture in St Maarten and Agribusiness

After 6 weeks we looking good and on schedule for harvest in week 8 with our Salad Mix.  Our hot peppers are soon ready for transplanting as well the remainder of our flint corn.  Week 5 and 6 on History and Agribusiness were a bit delayed due to heavy rain fall which was actually good for our plants.. But, nevertheless we are still making great progress.

In history class we took a look at how productive the island was back then and potential there was to supply the demand.. Food was as heaps as $0.30  pound for anything. Famers such as Mr Constant Guy, Mr Edwardo Richardson 1982, Lorenzo Mathew 1992 and Joslyn Richardson 1995 shared the challenges they faced back then while the students of St Maarten Academy, class of 1992 shared their case study compiled by Mr Dwight Barran on the agricultural artifacts, monuments and prominent land spaces that facilitated agricultural production back in the day..

Many still do not know today that the agricultural station sat on the land space that today is occupied by the St Maarten Academy, Sister Magda and Former John Larmonie Schools and was brought to its demise by our local government not re-subsidizing our seed budget which led to the start of the S4 Supermarket Chains and today’s protection on imported food!

St Maarten had a very lucrative export market where we shipped hay, fruit and vegetables to Curacao, Statia also was part of the food supply chain for Curacao. So there was potential, and still is especially with global rising food shortages and prices.    

Covering Agri-Business was very important during our sessions as it highlights the endless possibilities we have yet to take advantage of locally. Agribusiness covered the possibilities in the sector from cultivation to product development.. We also look at how many entrepreneurship opportunity that may arise from just 1 tomato and all who can be able to benefit in the chain of command from packaging, distribution, product development and retailing. Sky is actually the limit when you have more then 80,000 edible food crops to choose from..

Thanking Dwight Barran of Profile of the Windward Islands for all the great videos we were able to share to our participants…. Congrats to all participants for the growth of their salad mix after 6 weeks and investing their time in this program.