About BAS
The Barbados Agricultural Society is an agricultural organisation, which is over 150 years old. It was established in 1845 by an Act of Parliament in Barbados and seeks to represent the interests of the agricultural sector in all relevant forums. The Society is the secretariat for seven commodity groups representing over 500 farmers with women comprising 30% of the total.
The seven commodity groups are:
- Barbados Association of Pig Farmers
- Barbados Egg and Poultry Producers Association
- Barbados Fruit &Vegetable Growers Association
- Barbados Floral Producers & Exporters Association
- Barbados Dairy and Beef Producers Association
- Barbados Sheep Farmers Inc.
- Barbados Cotton Growers Association
These Associations are also members of the BAS. The BAS provides secretarial, accounting, lobbying and marketing services to the commodity groups.
The Main objectives of the BAS are as follows:
- To coordinate the efforts of those Agricultural Producer groups who believe in united action in establishing policy decisions and in speaking to Government.
- To provide for one central office and central secretariat for those member Associations that require such service and to give producers a basis for unity of purpose and a united voice.
- To provide Member Associations with the helpful information, statistics, forecast and development possibilities to meet changing economic conditions.
- To investigate pricing structures, both for selling of products produced and for purchasing input products for production and if deemed necessary, arrange to move into any field where either buying, selling or manufacturing would prove beneficial to any or all groups.
- To be a reliable and trustworthy "one voice" for Agricultural producers.
With respect to objective four (4) above, the BAS has opened a facility for the purchasing of farm inputs from overseas suppliers to be resold to local farmers at prices that are significantly lower than those currently available at other retail farm outlets. Additionally, members of the BAS can benefit further from a 5% discount on all items that are available for sale.While the range of items offered is in the process of development the BAS currently have a range of fertilizers, spray cans, ear tags; and will soon have for sale several classes of pesticides as well as seeds.
Farmers registered with the BAS can also benefit from exposure to a range of educational and developmental seminars and workshops that the Society conducts throughout the year.Moreover, members get to voice their concerns as an integrated group, as opposed to presenting individualistic concerns that may appear to be less important due to the number of people affected. Consequently, the ability of the industry to lobby politicians and other interests to provide greater opportunities for the industry is greatly enhanced.
