SMALL FARMING AND “TRADITIONAL” AGRICULTURE IN THE CARIBBEAN
MODERN AGRICULTURE MAY NOT NECESSARILY BE THE BEST OPTION FOR TRADITIONALIST, SMALL-SCALE CARIBBEAN FARMERS
In today’s world, where everyone is striving towards modernisation of the highest form in all aspects of life, there seems to be less and less space for traditional ways of doing anything anymore. It is no different in the agricultural sector. Agricultural geography may be seen as being rooted in outmoded concerns for “natural resources” and “basic human needs” in an economic era of “signs and space” (Lash & Urry, 1994). At every turn, new chemicals, machinery, and more “modern” methods of farming and agriculture are being touted as the best and only means of advancement. High yields of crops are favoured over their quality, and large farms which specialise in monocropping are fast replacing smaller farms which have more diversified crop varieties but smaller yields. It seems as though, in order to please the masses, sacrifices have to be made; these sacrifices being the small-scale farms and their traditional, “old-fashioned” methods. But is this direction truly the best possible option for the Caribbean, where little change has taken place in terms of agronomic practices since the days of slavery (Rankine, 1972)? Are large harvests of only a limited variety of crops worth the larger amounts of chemicals and inputs necessary for their production? Are these methods sustainable or environmentally friendly? Is “modern” agriculture all it’s claimed to be? These are the question that this paper will seek to uncover the answers for, and in so doing, reveal why modern agriculture may not necessarily be the best choice for traditionalist, small-scale Caribbean farmers.
The main advantage modern agriculture has over traditional agriculture is that it simply yields more harvest. This has been achieved by getting rid of small farms and instead creating extremely large farms which focus on the cultivation of usually only one type of crop. This is the agricultural
In today’s world, where everyone is striving towards modernisation of the highest form in all aspects of life, there seems to be less and less space for traditional ways of doing anything anymore. It is no different in the agricultural sector. Agricultural geography may be seen as being rooted in outmoded concerns for “natural resources” and “basic human needs” in an economic era of “signs and space” (Lash & Urry, 1994). At every turn, new chemicals, machinery, and more “modern” methods of farming and agriculture are being touted as the best and only means of advancement. High yields of crops are favoured over their quality, and large farms which specialise in monocropping are fast replacing smaller farms which have more diversified crop varieties but smaller yields. It seems as though, in order to please the masses, sacrifices have to be made; these sacrifices being the small-scale farms and their traditional, “old-fashioned” methods. But is this direction truly the best possible option for the Caribbean, where little change has taken place in terms of agronomic practices since the days of slavery (Rankine, 1972)? Are large harvests of only a limited variety of crops worth the larger amounts of chemicals and inputs necessary for their production? Are these methods sustainable or environmentally friendly? Is “modern” agriculture all it’s claimed to be? These are the question that this paper will seek to uncover the answers for, and in so doing, reveal why modern agriculture may not necessarily be the best choice for traditionalist, small-scale Caribbean farmers.
The main advantage modern agriculture has over traditional agriculture is that it simply yields more harvest. This has been achieved by getting rid of small farms and instead creating extremely large farms which focus on the cultivation of usually only one type of crop. This is the agricultural