A co-op has been launched in Barbados to address fragmentation among farmers in the area while building links to retail, tourism, and export markets.
The Ear of Corn Cooperative Society (ECCS) has set its initial strategy around a project to farm aloe vera as a raw product, with a plan to eventually develop finished or ‘semi-finished’ products to sell worldwide.
The MP for St James North, Chad Blackman, announced the initiative at a farmers’ forum last week, noting that the species of aloe most commonly used in the global cosmetics industry is widely grown in Barbados.
“For any product that you see having aloe – a soap, a lotion, across the world, look at the back of the product,” he said. “The species of aloe that the global companies use is the species of aloe that we take for granted in our backyard.”
Encouraging locals to begin planting aloe, he added: “We cannot just export it as a commodity. We must export a high-level, quality product that the world will consume.”
Blackman said he believes that the growth of the co-operative agricultural sector could also help long-term tourism and investment.
While no timeline has been set for the aloe initiative, ECCS is now a formally registered co-op.
Founder Ryan Medford said that many farmers work in isolation, often planting the same crops simultaneously, which leads to oversupply and weakens farmers’ bargaining power with retailers. Proposing a contract farming model to highlight “who is growing what”, Medford said: “The problem is not the retailer; it’s the lack of coordination among farmers… When a retailer sees that you can reliably produce and move product collectively, they respect you and give you a fair price.”
