By the Caribbean Journal staff

Continuing a Caribbean-wide push on agriculture, particularly organic farming, a Barbadian agronomist is urging citizens to focus on growing their own produce.

“There are a lot of cost savings to be had when we don’t have to buy these vegetables from the supermarket,” said David Bynoe of the Food Crop Research Section of the Barbados Ministry of Agriculture, Food, Fisheries and Water Resource Management.

According to Bynoe, home gardens could not only save Barbadians valuable time, but also provide other health and nutritional benefits.

“There will be health benefits because everything that you use from the garden will be natural or organic and homemade,” he said. “Homeowners will know what they are eating and that it is healthy.”

His project, “Gardening in a Limited Space,” aims to demonstrate ways in which homeowners can grow their own produce even with limited available space.

For three months, students from McGill University in Canada were involved, building structures and planting crops.

Byone said there was another benefit: exercise.

“I would have asked the students to look at the calories that you can burn and how much exercise you can get from doing this garden project at home,” he said. “[The research] showed that you could burn significant calories from being involved in such a project.”

As part of the project, students designed a series of inventive ways to grow produce in small spaces.