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The Case for Home Food Preparation, and the Establishment of Agriculture Based Manufacturing Enterprises in the Small Islands and Communities in the Caribbean and in other parts of the world where fertile soil is a natural resource by S. Conrad Mason, Food Technologist, Food Quality Control and Development Specialist

As agricultural land is the primary and only natural resource and agriculture an important activity in practically all the islands, these activities are considered necessary and particularly important, In addition to the value added to primary agricultural produce, they can help to lower individual and family food bills as well as national food import bills. They are also ways to ensure healthier eating. Moreover, they are activities that will be facilitated by the ready availability of a wide variety of surplus agricultural produce, namely fruits and vegetables, in their seasons, the abundant supply of labor due to the high levels of unemployment and under-employment, and the existence of a range of niche markets to enable ready marketing at the local level.

Independence and Economic Development (in Small Communities)  

1st Sir Winston Scott Memorial Lecture - by the Late Dr. E.F. Schumacher, at the Frank Collymore Hall, Central Bank, Barbados on November 29th, 1976.

There is something very special about an island. What is it? An island is a whole - not just a part of something else, as Germany is a part of Western Europe, or Venezuela is a part of South America; it is a whole, and this means, it has a personality of its own. I might think of Iceland or of Barbados; they have much the same population - less than a quarter of a million. Such a small group of people - a quarter of a million - does not, cannot have a personality of its own unless it is the population of an independent island state.

I always marvel at these phenomena of smallness. London has almost 8 million inhabitants; if these were divided up into "islands" each with ¼ million inhabitants, there would be over 30 such "nations". Think of it: 30 nations like Iceland or Barbados, each with a parliament; a government; even a Central Bank and its own currency, etc. Actually, Switzerland has an internal structure somewhat like that. With just over 6 million inhabitants, it consists of 25 "cantons", averaging about ¼ million people each. Each "canton" has a government and, though not a central bank, a Kantonal bank. Small and very small countries can teach us many lessons. Quantitatively, they amount to nothing at all, but they have a certain quality (or personality) of their own, and thus they amount to something significant. So they can teach us that "quality" is more "real" than "quantity".

Since it is quality, not quantity, that is relevant to human culture, these countries are culturally highly significant. I have been told that Barbados "developed a proto-British culture", thus earning the nickname "Bimshire", or "England" and that this has become a tourist attraction. However that may be, here is a mere ¼ million people and they have their own attractive culture: they are distinguishable and distinguished - not simply "biomass" coming out of a melting pot. They have their own instrument of higher learning - a liberal arts college, a daily newspaper, a serious literary magazine, radio and television, and can claim a worldwide reputation in sport.

Imagine the world population of 4,000 million living on 16,000 islands, each with a population of ¼ million! This would, no doubt, make the UN organization somewhat unwieldy - but think of the richness of culture - the colour - the fun - the versatility of humanity "structured" like that. And nobody could set the world on fire; nobody would find it necessary to spend his wealth on atom bombs, missiles, and similar atrocities.

Alas, the Good Lord probably thought that this would make human life too easy and pleasant; that humanity would simply "go to seed" (like all the lettuces in my garden during the unheard-of sunshine we had in England last summer!). So the Lord created not only islands - big and small

- but also great land masses which would tempt man into the setting up of "superpowers" . These are a very great burden for humanity to bear and a never-absent threat to the life, wealth and happiness of the smaller units.

Human life - we always do well to remind ourselves of this - is primarily about culture - which includes everything pertaining to the spirit and the soul of man. Economics, i.e. the production, exchange and consumption of goods and services, has of course to provide the physical basis of culture; but it is a mere means to an end, not the purpose and fulfillment of life. We eat in order to live, we don't live in order to eat. Everybody, of course, knows this, but we tend to forget ...... It is a pity when economics gets in the way of culture: when culture is, as it were, sacrificed to economics. This can easily happen to any small group of people - I mean ¼ million or so, particularly when they are (what is now called) "less developed".

If they lose their culture they tend to become mere appendices of the economy of the dominant "rich" world and this means that they are simply used as "gap fillers" to suit other people's convenience. To lose one's culture, therefore, means to lose not only one's economic independence but also the very possibility of gaining true development and independence.

Everything begins with people and therefore with the people's culture: their inner wealth. What is meant by inner wealth? Well, this is difficult to put into words. Without a doubt, it begins with self-confidence and self-reliance. The so-called Arusha Declaration, put forward by Julius Nyerere, President of Tanzania, speaks emphatically of self-reliance: the foreigner, whatever his intentions, will not develop Tanzania, If Tanzania is to develop, this will be done by the people of Tanzania. Self-reliance is a very important part of inner wealth.

After self-reliance, I think, comes self-thinking, particularly in matters of economics, technology, and even science. This is a very serious and difficult matter. Most people assume that economics, technology, and applied science, are simply "truth", a body of knowledge showing things as they are and necessarily must be. This, however, is not so. You may say that all the sciences are truthful, but you would be wrong to think that the sciences bring you the only truth there is or that they automatically bring the truth most relevant to your situation.

As a shoemaker, I can understand these things quite well and easily; I know that a shoe, to be a good shoe, must not only be well-made, it must also fit - not just any foot, but precisely the particular foot for which it is meant. With economics, technology, applied science, it is quite the same. Just as you cannot say: "This is an excellent made shoe, therefore you ought to wear it", indeed, just as you must first try it on and see whether the shoe fits your foot, so you cannot say: "This is an excellent system of economics, technology, or applied science; therefore we ought to learn and adopt it!" No! You must first see whether it fits your specific requirements, and, if it doesn't, you must invent your own. This is what I mean by "self-thinking".

You see, I have become exceedingly doubtful whether the economics, technology and applied science of the so-called developed countries fit the requirements of the developing countries: in fact, I have not merely become doubtful, I have become convinced they do not fit.

The so-called "laws of economics" are not tendencies towards the maintenance or restoration of equilibrium, but on the contrary: tendencies towards disequilibrium. If, let us say, one group of people, forges ahead and becomes rich and powerful, while other groups remain poor and weak, there are no tendencies in economics, or in the economic system, which people consider "normal", to restore equilibrium and "narrow the gap": on the contrary, all the "normal" pressures are towards more disequilibrium and a widening of the gap.

Nothing succeeds like success.

Nothing stagnates like stagnation.

Nothing fails like failure.

All ideas of what is "economic", efficient, sound, normal, etc. are based on the principle "to him who has shall be given" and "anyone who cannot quite make it shall not make it at all".

You see, orthodox economics takes its point of departure to be "production" and "consumption". The textbook says: "Economics is about the production and consumption of goods and services". Therefore, it is about "factors of production" - land, labour, capital, plus managerial skills to organise them. Is there anything wrong with this? Certainly not from the point of view of people who command land, labour, capital, and managerial skills. They compete with other people who also "have command" - and let the most effective commander win and the devil take the hindmost. Economics, in other words, is seen as a battle conducted by the general, over the interests of generals. All the rules and evaluations are conceived from this point of view.

But what about people who are not generals, who have no - or virtually no - command over - land, labour, capital, and the managerial skills? The answer is very clear and simple. Their role is to serve the generals. They are lucky when the generals need them; when the generals don't need them these people are left out in the cold, unemployed, unemployable, useless, forgotten people: "The country would be better off without them", we are told! Perhaps they might emigrate - if there are generals in some other part of the world who might be able to use them.

Now, it is not difficult to see that this type of Economics produces a world in which the poor have but little chance of "development"; the dice are always loaded against them. This type of Economics, which takes the production and consumption of goods and services as its point of departure, is really anti-development. It always brings you back to the point that it is not very economical to waste scarce resources on helping people whose productivity is low because they are (what is called) backward. Mechanization and automation are generally much more "economical". The poor, the disadvantaged, who for one reason or another have been left behind in the race (which some people call the rat race) cannot develop unless they evolve a different kind of economics, one that does not take "goods" as its point of departure but "people". It is quite amazing what a difference that makes.

If you change your "point of departure" everything changes. Very well, then, let's try it. Let's start with "people". So no matter how poor we are we have something to start with: Ourselves, the people, our own ingenuity and labour power, and of course, our needs. Nobody owes us a living; we have to make our own living. So we go and do it.

President Nyerere made the same point when he said "Do not let us depend upon money for development". Money which represents goods and services, is not the correct "point of departure". "We made a mistake", he said, "in choosing money - something we do not have - to be the big instrument of our development. We are making a mistake to think we shall get the goods by money. Money, and the wealth it represents, is the result and NOT the basis of development".

"Money and the wealth it represents" - i.e. command over the factors of production - is not the right basis i.e. not the right starting point or (what I have called) the right point of departure. "The four pre-requisites of development (President Nyerere continues) are quite different. They are:

• People
• Land

(iii) Good Policies

(iv) Good leadership In order to properly implement the policy of "self-reliance", he says, "the people have to be taught the meaning of self-reliance and its practice. They must become self-sufficient in food, serviceable clothes, and good housing". This is eminently god sense. All I would add to food , clothing and housing is: they must become self-... of course not self-sufficient in culture. In other words: when the point of departure of economic policy is not production and consumption - or goods and services - or money (all this means the same) but, us, ourselves - people then - as I said everything changes and the primary concern of development policy becomes the capabilities of the people.

But the people need help. They need leadership. In all this, there is only one question: are they going to be led to the fullest possible development of their capabilities? Or are they to be used as means of production just as and when it suits somebody else's purposes so to use them?

I can assure you: in the whole "problematique" of development there is no other question of comparable importance: "Is there a development of the people to feed themselves, clothe themselves, house themselves, and - what shall we call the development of culture? enjoy themselves?" When President Nyerere speaks of "good policies" and "good leadership", I am sure this is what he has in mind.

It is necessary to become aware of the fact that orthodox, conventional economics, technology, and applied science are designed to serve an efficient system of production and consumption and not to develop the capabilities of people to look after themselves. Equally, education: it is designed to serve the system of production and consumption, and, not to develop the capabilities of people to look after themselves.

As a very astute French political scientist - André Gorz - observes: "The modern development has created an unprecedented gulf between professional expertise and popular culture....... it has cut the expertise into such minute fragments and so many narrow specializations that they are of little if any use to the experts in their daily life .....The holders of this specialized expertise are professionally as helpless and dependent as unskilled or semi-skilled workers".

Education, in other words, as currently practiced is not for self-reliance not for creating upstanding, independent men and women. It is to fit people into a world-wide production and consumption system which is ruled by those who "command" the so-called factors of production, including labour.

Please note that I am not talking of intentional exploitation. I am describing an existing system. , which, taking production and consumption as its point of departure, necessarily and inevitably subordinates human beings to the apparent requirements of "the system". Whether those human beings - all except the generals - who are the subordinates, are at the same time exploited or not is quite a different question. In some cases they certainly are; in others they are not exploited but pampered: in all cases they are subordinated, made dependent, insecure, unable to look after themselves - they are mere means of production, which on occasion may be needed and on other occasions may not be needed.

People talk about "structural unemployment" - just to take this as an illustration of what I am saying: that unemployment is due to the structure of the production system. It is due to the system, not due to the people within the system. And who has created the system? The masters or generals or commanders of the factors of production. After all, the system has not made itself, it is a human creation; and if it produces substantial unemployment (I mean more than just fractional, temporary, statistical unemployment), then, quite obviously, it cannot have been conceived as an instrument to serve the people but must have been conceived as a system to be served by the people. There can be no more grievous failure, from a human point of view, than unemployment whereby a substantial number of people are unable to work for their living, to look after themselves and their families.

Structural unemployment is now very wide-spread, in rich countries as well as in poor countries. Everywhere I hear of attempts "to attract industry" into this or that country or province or district. What an extraordinary thing! One might have thought that people who have manifold unsatisfied needs - who, in other words, are poor and not affluent - will organise themselves for production, get busy and produce what they need. But no! They depend on "attracting industry", they depend on someone else, someone far away, " employing them", finding something useful for them to do.

As a matter of fact, I see signs everywhere that this problem of structural unemployment is becoming bigger throughout the so-called "developed" world. It will then become more and more difficult to attract industry into the poorer, less developed, countries. Consequently, it will become more and more necessary to break away from this extraordinary and anti-human thinking which starts, as it were, from "goods", which takes people as means of production - instead of starting from people and taking goods as something that inevitably arises when people get down to productive work.

Let us now review, as concisely as possible, the various lines of thinking and policy that could lead us out of the present impasse. First, Education: Without what Ghandhi called "basic education", self-reliance and independence remain a dream. All people must obtain know-how to help themselves - to grow food, make clothes, build and maintain houses, and produce "culture" - i.e. something for the mind, the soul, the spirit. Inasmuch as the single individual (in most cases) cannot acquire all this know-how, education must include training in co-operation, training in operating a rudimentary "division of labour". All this is quite straightforward, but as it does not satisfy the Board of Examiners in London, Cambridge, or goodness knows where, it is not being practiced. Most education goes for a sterile kind of academic "superiority" which leaves people more - and not less - dependent on being used as "means of production". Hence the rapid decline of the "self-care" system.

There are always two systems by which we support ourselves - the "self-care" system and the "market" system where you must first earn money, so that you can then purchase goods and services produced by others. There has been an extraordinary decline of the self-care system since my youth. The result is an enormous waste and expense. I am thinking of: e.g. food preparation, health care, repair services and similar activities, which used to cost nothing when I was young. Because we did it ourselves - and enjoyed it! You may say basic education can never, by itself, enable people to maintain themselves at an acceptably high standard of living. And you are quite right. It is only a beginning: but a beginning in the right direction, not, like most of present-day education, in the wrong direction. It produces an attitude of self-reliance and a capability of self-thinking and self-doing. Of course, there has to be a "follow-through".

The follow-through is the development of an appropriate technology. Appropriate for what? For the genuine needs of the people - so that they effectively provide for themselves. Everyone for himself? Of course not. But in human-sized groups. Barbados would be populous enough for this: to have a high level of self-sufficiency with plenty of work opportunities for everybody, and without undue reliance on such chancy and vulnerable economic arrangements as "monoculture" exports of raw materials, tourism, or the sale of useless craft articles to crafty and useless people.

The technologies appropriate for such a development towards self-reliance, towards relative self-sufficiency and economic independence - which also means full employment and full enjoyment - the appropriate technologies, I say, need to be systematically collected, assembled, improved and perfected - and this does not happen by itself: it must be made to happen. Technologies appropriate for the purposes stated would, generally speaking, have these four characteristics: Smallness,

Simplicity Capital cheapness and

Non-violence

The modern development of the last 100 years has been in the opposite direction:- excessive size, complexity, capital costliness, and violence. Every community that wishes to escape from unemployment, frustration and economic servitude will need to set up some institution, some Knowledge Centre, with the unique task of organising and promoting the requisite knowledge of an appropriate technology. (As I have said: these things - against the trend - do not happen by themselves. They must be made to happen!)

It is not my task here to elaborate the details of the required policies. There are many organizational and financial problems - all of them perfectly soluble.

Any community that now embarks upon this journey and sets out to organise the requisite knowledge (and other facilities) will not be alone: on the contrary, it will only become part of a world-wide network. Appropriate technology centres have already been set up in a score of countries and are being set up in many more.

While those economists - and others - whose thinking is fixed in the consideration of production and consumption of goods become every day more despondent and helpless - those who make PEOPLE their point of departure are becoming more hopeful and self-confident. For, assuredly, if the principal concern is the development of the capability, productivity of people, an ample supply of products will inevitably follow. Whereas, if the principal concern is highly mechanized mass production, most of the people will inevitably become servants of others, richer and more powerful than themselves, or will be left out altogether.

Let me then close by saying that many years of work on these matters have completely convinced me not only that SMALL IS BEAUTIFUL but also that SMALL IS POSSIBLE and has the FUTURE on its side

By The Late Dr. E. F. Schmacher

3. Education and Skills Training in the Caribbean  (Video*) 

Mr. Timothy Antoine, Governor, Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB),  speaks on the need for a change in the education and skills Training components in the curricula in schools in the Caribbean at a Caribbean Examinations Council (C VC) Meeting, March 21st, 2019. 

*(Video)

4. Big and Small Businesses : Their Place in the Small Islands and Communities

Preparation Pending

5. Food Preservation and Processing - Methods

Preparation pending

6. Suzies Hot Sauce, Antigua

Company Background

Susie's Hot Sauce is a small cottage business from the tiny Caribbean nation of Antigua-Barbuda, yet it is internationally renowned for its huge taste.
It is almost impossible to visit Antigua without becoming intimately acquainted with this Caribbean delicacy. And once you've been introduced...It is even harder to forget!
Susie's has been pleasing palates since 1960 when Susie's Original Hot Sauce was first introduced. Its award-winning red habanero and scotch bonnet hot sauces have captured the hearts, minds and taste buds of chile heads and pepper sauce aficionados all over the world. Visitors to our friendly twin islands insist on returning home with bottles of Susie's sauces for family and friends, sharing the warmth of the sun-drenched paradise, its people, and the joy of their tropical experience.

Testimonials

Susie's passionate devotees are responsible for its international appeal. Here's what a few of them had to say."I am writing to commend you on a fine hot sauce product... I was fortunate enough to have obtained a sample of your hot pepper sauce early last year and [my family and I] have been using it in our home until it recently ran out. My family (even my kids!) are now demanding that I obtain some more!
My wife and I are both of West Indian background (Jamaican) and have always used hot peppers; both in cooking and as sides to our meals....Having tried many different brands over the years, I have found that your product is the closest one to the "real thing" that I have come across..."
Sincerely
P. David Duperrouzel, Jamaica"...I have just come to the end of a bottle of your Original Hot Sauce....My sister-in-law brought a bottle back when she was on a cruise. It came back to England, and I have been adding it to my roast dinners, cheese sandwiches etc mmmmm...ever since.
We have a variety of hot sauces on offer over here and although they are hot, they do not have the same taste as your sauce..."
Regards
Ray Webster, United Kingdom"Need More Sauce...
... I've run out of sauce and am frightened to think that I will have to go much longer without sauce. Please send me some more..."
Sincerely
Smokin', John Knight, Montana"...When is your site going to be finished? I'll finish your site for you for some Susie's sauce. I can't find it in the U.S. and I LOVE it... "
Scott Gréaux, Florida"... we discovered Susie's Hot Sauce 10 years ago while on our honeymoon in Antigua. Since then, we have been getting various supplies from friends visiting Antigua and are now so happy that you have a web site so that we can order directly. Thank you!"
Tom Kartos, Canada"I am...an avid eater of "Susie's Hot Sauce". I have never had a condiment as fully satisfying as this one. Please give my regards to the creators of this enlightening sauce. This sauce makes my cloudy days turn bright hot and sunny. "
Sincerely
Jun Sa, Korea"I have just returned from the beautiful isle of Antigua after a fantastic holiday. The only problem is that I have retuned home to England with only one bottle of your sauce. Silly me! I tried your CALYPSO sauce as soon as I got home and now only have a small amount of it left. Please can you let me know if there is anyway I can get hold of some more, at least four bottles, it is the best I have ever tried!
Yours Hopefully,"
Darren Cross, United Kingdom"I have been using your hot sauce ever since I first went to Antigua several years ago and it is the BEST. I saw your advertisement in Chile Pepper Magazine! I was so happy to see it! Your most favorite CUSTOMER here in California!"
Michael Marks, California"Please advise what is required to become a dealer for Susie's Hot Sauce. This is the best Hot Sauce I've ever encountered!! Not just hot, but delicious. My brother introduced me to it about 4 years ago."
Ann"My husband and I traveled there on our honeymoon and ate at a pizza place called Bannana something or other. There we fell in love with your hot sauce and bought several for gifts. We meant to keep one for ourselves but ended up giving it away as a gift. It has been over 1 1/2 years and I just found the name of the sauce again. How can I buy Susie's hot sauce and have it shipped to Virginia in the US? I am so glad I finally found you all!"Shaune Colliver, Virginia"Withdrawal Symptoms...
...Can you tell me if you supply Susie's Hot Sauce to anyone in the UK - if so who, and where? I bought a supply in Antigua last year but now it's run out. We were coming back to get some more this week but we had to cancel our holiday owing to a family illness and now I don't know what to do. Please help me!"
Tim Palmer, United Kingdom"I am looking to buy the sauces by the case...for our site www.hotsauceandmore.com. [We] get alot of people who want it, i have 8 orders on my desk back ordered now for the calypso...I need to know how to order more to meet the demand."
Tom Cuneo, Indiana.

Private told to 'Commit to Research

Source: Mid-Week Nation Newspaper. Barbados, Wednesday, November. 2008

Research/development is one of the weakest skills in the marketplace observed Minister in the Prime Minister's Office, Senator Maxine McClean, on Monday at the Caribean Leadership Summit 2008. 

"It is imperative that the private sector which ultimately will be the primary beneficiary of research and development activity, that the sector recognizes the need to commit to research and development and to see it as a necessary and critical input to its own success," she told those attending the summit at the Barbados Hilton.

 She said the government must then function as both an "enabler" and "innovator". adding that while the Government may be instrumental in shaping the competitiveness of business, the enterprises also have their part to play.

The senator said that the David Thompson administration had created an enabling environment through policies for competitiveness and innovation with a Governance Unit under the Ministry of the Prime Minister, as well as the commitment "to an ongoing  programme "to ensure the implementation of an effective strategy."

"There must be a seamless interface between those entities seeking to do business with the Government and the Government agencies providing this and thus it is recognized that there must be a conscious effort to revisit the mechanism by which we provide this interface and that we utilize the various technologies available to us to enhance the quality of service as you access Government services." 

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