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A few days ago, Nemme McSweeney sent me the link to a YouTube video featuring the man behind Moruga Hill Rice, Mark Forgenie. I know it’s long, she said (just over an hour), but Mr Forgenie encapsulates so many healthy concepts we keep ignoring.
It was riveting: a combination of history, geography, ecology, permaculture and the use of land and water to produce healthy foods. Forgenie has made a thriving business out of his Vista Dorado Estates. His philosophy is about cherishing our natural resources.
The video was produced by Shaun Alexander and Rhett Mc Carthy who trade under the name Foodie Nation, a channel featuring local food and farming, among other related things.
It recalled for me how many people are doing the legwork to collect and share information about the remarkable quantity of sustainable farming and food preparation in this nation.
I felt that I should pay tribute to this cast of characters as best as I could in this column. It’s hard to call names because it can never be comprehensive. But I hope that when I describe their work, it will serve to celebrate and give thanks to all those who devote themselves to these often unheralded tasks.
(via Moruga Hill Rice.)
Before delving into those who help to feed us, I want to single out Nemme.
Back in 1994, Nemme and Gabriel John conceptualised the Toco Folk Museum. In an interview with Shereen Ali in 2019, she thought it could be a Heritage Centre, developing ecotourism, and felt it could become the model for a network of community museums overseen by the National Trust.
Through a series of unfortunate events, the museum is now closed, but Nemme remains fiercely attached to the idea of sustainable development and preserving our histories.
This is why she shared the link that kept me spellbound for that hour.
Space constraints will not allow me to share as many details as I would like, but I hope that you will believe me when I say that each one is worthy of our praise and thanks—and you can easily find them at their online addresses.
Last week, I mentioned the EatAhFood channel, and its commitment to “sharing great recipes, tutorials on how to make your favourite local dishes, featuring local talent, showcasing chefs, food producers, foodies and other key figures who help shape the culinary landscape and define Caribbean culture through food.”
It is a similar mission for Foodie Nation and I am impressed by the energy they both have to be traipsing about the country to feature all manner of juicy finds.
Another of our gems is Alpha Sennon, founder of WhyFarm and an “agripreneur”. This month completes ten years since it started.
I have seen several videos of their work in Siparia, and I marvel at the range. In 2019, WhyFarm was commissioned by the FAO to do a pilot study on the status of digital agriculture locally.
“The research project focused on five short crops: tomato, melongene, patchoi, lettuce and hot pepper,” said the site. “Farmers were interviewed and data collected observing what digital tools and farming methods are currently being utilised within Trinidad and Tobago. The study looks at the challenges farmers are facing and evaluates the policies surrounding the adaptation of digital agriculture.”
I’m calling the names of the farmers they interviewed because they are all part of a community who are taking farming beyond the traditional back-breaking scenarios.
Elon Robinson of BetterGrow Hydrofarm, Oje Alexander of Happy Farmly Products in Tobago, Omari Cox, Rakesh Bhukal of Aquatik Solutions, Ronald Dipsingh of Dipsingh Farms, Tara Goliath of Heaven’s Harvest, and Vashisht and Vivakeanand Mahadeo of HappyHill Manor.
(via HappyHill Manor.)
I wanted to identify them because each one took a leap into using digital technology under different circumstances. These interviews took place six years ago, and it would be wonderful to know how they have fared, especially considering the kind of upheaval Covid 19 would have had on their businesses.
There were some commonalities in their stories. All of them talked about having to undergo a sustained learning process—not just about farming itself. It included learning new technologies, and understanding the necessity for various skills, such as management, engineering, marketing, and so on.
A couple of them spoke of the difficulty in obtaining basic things, such as water.
(via WhyFarm.)
Another enterprise that is a tribute to gumption and perseverance is Wa Samaki Ecosystems in Freeport. Run by Kenya-born Erle Rahaman-Noronha, the 35-acre permaculture farm has been building and thriving.
They produce flowers, fish, food crops, and offer internships and courses in tropical permaculture design. I’d learned about this place when my daughter wrote an article for the BBC about their use of traditional clay and other earthly material for building instead of concrete, and the practice of regenerative farming.
In one way or the other, the people on the ground are practising what Rahaman-Noronha had told her that the long-term vision was “to educate people on the environment, and to live in balance with nature.”
(via Wa Samaki Ecosystems.)
These are people who are doing the work, people who are bringing it to our attention, entreating us to support our local fare and the people making them.
We talk about food security but still the budgetary allocations for agriculture remain smaller than most. Without fundamental support, I wonder, how do they keep faith?
Yet, they do, and that is why they are heroes of my planet.
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Vaneisa Baksh is a columnist with the Trinidad Express, an editor and a cricket historian. She is the author of a biography of Sir Frank Worrell.
