Securing the Nation’s Breadbasket

A few generations later, hotelier Mahmood Patel is chatting with a colleague while away on business. In a random conversation about food, Mahmood is struck by his colleague’s statement that “you [Barbadians] can’t talk sustainability if you’re importing everything you eat”. He returns home and embarks on an ambitious agricultural project that will not only regenerate soil once dedicated to sugar cane production but also model a path towards the increased food security he envisions for his beloved island.

Fuelling this passion for food security is Mahmood’s strong opposition to Barbados’ reliance on one mono-economy (sugar cane) and now, another (tourism). Why does so much land lie under-utilized while citizens rely on a steady stream of imported produce that could easily be compromised by a foreign crisis? His answer is simple: use the island’s natural resources to sustain and better protect itself from outside events. Coco Hill Forest, a 53-acre oasis of forest tucked away in the St. Joseph countryside of northern Barbados, is Mahmood’s blueprint for this solution.

The heart of this “blueprint” is vertical agriculture – planting crops at different levels in one area: mango and coconut trees tower over banana trees shading lower-level cocoa and coffee trees, and passion fruit vines twine their way up various trunks away from the ginger and turmeric meandering along their bases. Mahmood doesn’t choose what to plant; rather, he “work[s] within the confines of the topography and the terrain to plant back trees and flora that…fit the….soil and terrain”. Eventually, the project will be able to fully support the farm-to-table experience at Mamu’s Café, Mahmood’s healthy eating spot on the south coast, as well the agro-processing of jams, juices and other goods.

The morning that I visit, several volunteers are milling around in the welcome area. Between mouthfuls of banana bread and gulps of freshly made local juice, they bask in the speckles of sunlight peeping through the leafy canopy above. In about 10 minutes, they will resume the current task of laying gravel, bucket by bucket, to some 3.5 km of hiking trails throughout the forest. Mahmood, owner/project manager, stops for a few words before joining the volunteers back at work. He explains that the project is still in its developing phase, so trees are being planted and additional trails are being discovered. He relies on volunteers and a single employee to assist with these and other tasks such as managing the nursery, harvesting crops, and guiding visitors.