Going back to our roots

Even the iguanas in my backyard ended up being stolen and I would look out my window and see boys or young men pelting them down from the trees in order to sell them. I hear they fetch a good price. What chance would my avocados or limes or provisions have? How would I protect them? Now that unemployment is rampant in Trinidad with businesses and even government closing doors, who knows what might happen? GISL is gone, with perhaps CNMG to follow, so the time seems ripe to go back to our roots. Gardening would use both our labour and our ingenuity and would encourage new business ventures. Cocoa as we know full well in Trinidad could be king.

But how does one provide incentives to those who love the soil, but who do not want to labour in the hot sun, spray for pests and do all the backbreaking work, only to have some thief reap the rewards? There must be a solution, with things getting tough by the minute.

Becoming reconnected to the soil and the environment might well be a good cure for idleness, and vandalism. It would certainly help those who now see their resources dwindling. We need to think through ways to protect the entrepreneur who is seeking to grow food and develop resources.

After all, successive governments have been trying for over a decade to find ways to create new industries.

We could start a trade in bush medicines. All those brews that our mothers concocted, starting with aloes, could make a fortune.

Everyone in Europe now knows the medicinal value of the aloe plant and, of course, coconut oil is one of the new miracle ingredients that the savvy shopper across Europe has on her health food list. Some websites even claim that coconut oil taken regularly will cure cancer.

Think of the possibilities if some enterprising producer could package fever bush, for example, and really make it a commercial product. Has anyone tried exporting soursop drinks? The latest is that the soursop has huge medicinal advantages. But how do you stop thieves? There may be a solution in community watches, but if you live in Toco or elsewhere out in the country, where neighbours are few, then that may not yield results. Perhaps the local councillors might use some of that labour force that is costing taxpayers so much money and establish a form of community watch. I can already hear the cynics. Who will watch the watchers? In this day of high technology, would it be possible to establish a network that would set off alarms in local police stations when thieves attempt to infiltrate private property? After all, hackers seem to be pretty powerful and able to intrude even as one uses a computer. Perhaps we could develop some form of new spyware? But, the real issue is, who wants to make gardens? We seem to have lost the art.

A recent article noted that young children spend little time outdoors. They play with iPads and electronic games and entertain themselves via social media.

Across the developed world children increasingly no longer know what boredom means, or indeed, what it is to use their imaginations.

Many often lack fresh air because entertainment is indoors on a computer. This leads to a growing disengagement with the environment.

So, I want to propose a new initiative. A sponsored garden competition and festival to attract schools, children and young people to getting back to the grassroots — literally. It could even be tied to a food fair.

People might then learn to respect and appreciate the interconnections between plant life and the waters of the world, animal life and human survival. We may even see some small decrease in crime, since gardening is very time intensive and leaves little room for idleness and waywardness.

Perhaps some newspaper editor might take up my suggestion and offer a prize to the young for the best garden and a showcasing of their produce, which might even include sales.

Given the rise in food prices, a small vegetable garden could help sustain a family. It would also mean that the Ministry of Education would be supported in its drive to introduce sugar-free foods and encourage healthy eating among the young. We would then see a decrease in obesity, a disease that is fast becoming an epidemic.

P e r - h a p s these are fanciful notions.

But they m i g h t b e a r s o m e fruit