Carib Scope

标签： Barbados

巴巴多斯

  • Greaves continues record breaking form

    Greaves continues record breaking form

    The Junior Pan American Track Cycling Championships in Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico, kicked off its 1km time trial qualification round on Friday morning with a stunning display of speed from young Barbadian rider Arielle Greaves, who delivered yet another record-breaking performance to stamp her authority on the event.

    Crossing the finish line, Greaves posted an extraordinary official time of 1 minute 12.011 seconds, a result that not only secured her a spot in the afternoon’s final as the fourth-fastest qualifier but also etched a new junior national record next to her name. The mark improves on her own previous benchmark of 1:15.601, which she set just months earlier during a competition in Lima, Peru in 2025.

    Greaves’ latest standout performance comes on the heels of an already impressive showing earlier in the championships. On Wednesday, she notched another new national junior record in the opening round of the flying 200m event, though her run in that competition came to an end at the quarterfinal stage. Undeterred by that early exit, the young rider bounced back with focused determination to deliver a career-best effort in the 1km time trial qualifier.

    Speaking to reporters immediately after her qualifying ride, an energized and self-assured Greaves shared her excitement about the result, crediting much of her success to the guidance of team mechanic and personal mentor Elisha Greene. “The ride felt really good from start to finish,” she said. “I went out onto the track and stuck exactly to the race plan we mapped out together.”

    “Qualifying fourth overall is an incredible starting point for my medal hunt, and getting another national record on top of that has given me a massive confidence boost heading into the final,” Greaves added. “I’m really looking forward to competing this evening, I’m going to give it everything I’ve got, and my goal is to take home the win.”

    Deidre Hinkson, manager of the Barbados national team, spoke publicly about the team’s immense pride in Greaves’ groundbreaking achievement, highlighting the extraordinary barriers the young athlete has overcome to reach this point. Unlike many competing nations, Barbados does not have a dedicated domestic track cycling training facility, forcing Greaves to relocate for her preparation ahead of the continental championships.

    “Arielle is such a strong, driven young athlete, and she has all the tools to go as far as she wants in this sport,” Hinkson said. “Even without a home training track, she has still managed to pull out the best performances of her career here. We are incredibly grateful to Trinidad and Tobago for opening their facilities to her to let her prepare for this event.”

    As Greaves prepares to line up for the 1km time trial final in Heat 5 this afternoon, Hinkson said the team is placing no unnecessary pressure on the young rider. “We just want her to go out, leave every ounce of energy on the track, and do her best,” Hinkson explained. “Whatever the result, if she gives 100% effort, we will all be thrilled. A medal would just be the perfect cherry on top of what has already been an incredible championships for her.”

  • PE teachers get coaching boost

    PE teachers get coaching boost

    A new cohort of 32 physical education teachers and coaches has completed the regionally focused Caribbean Coaching and Certification Program, emerging with enhanced skills and credentials to advance athletic development across Barbados and the broader Caribbean. The official graduation ceremony was held Tuesday at the headquarters of the Barbados Olympic Association (BOA), where leaders from both the BOA and partner institution Erdiston Teacher’s Training College celebrated the graduates’ achievement and outlined the far-reaching impact of their work.

    BOA President Sandra Osbourne opened the formal proceedings by extending gratitude to Erdiston Teacher’s Training College for its collaborative partnership, emphasizing the shared mission of nurturing the next generation of Caribbean youth. Osbourne framed the partnership and the program itself as a living embodiment of core Olympian principles, highlighting the inherently symbiotic relationship between sports and education. “Olympism is far more than competitive sport—it is a philosophy of life that blends athletic practice with culture and learning,” Osbourne explained. “Our work centers on leveraging sport as a tool to advance the harmonious, holistic development of all people, aligned with that foundational philosophy.”

    Outlining the growing momentum of national and regional coaching certification efforts in Barbados, Osbourne shared that this group of 32 (comprising 22 male and 10 female education professionals) marks what organizers hope will be the first of many cohorts drawn from the country’s teaching workforce. The graduation follows closely on the completion of a larger group of 120 coaches who graduated one month prior through a combined initiative of the National Coaching Certification Program and this regional Caribbean-focused effort.

    Dr. Colin Cumberbatch, Principal of Erdiston Teacher’s Training College, called the milestone a source of great pride for both the institution and the Caribbean sports community. Addressing the graduates directly, Cumberbatch noted that their newly earned certification is a public testament to their dedication, self-discipline, and drive to grow into high-impact physical educators that shape young lives. He stressed that the responsibility of today’s coaches and PE teachers extends far beyond teaching athletic skills: “You serve as the guardians of fair play, clean sport, and safe, inclusive environments free from harm or abuse. This role cannot be overvalued in our current sporting landscape.”

    Cumberbatch urged graduates to view their certification not as a final achievement, but as a foundational stepping stone to transformative work across every sector of sports. Whether graduates go on to work in school systems, elite athletic programs, local community outreach, or regional and international competitive circuits, he said their impact will depend not just on the knowledge they gained, but on their integrity, commitment, and willingness to share what they have learned with others.

    Speaking on behalf of the entire graduating cohort, Renaldo Gilkes reflected that the program offered a transformative, eye-opening learning experience that challenged his existing approaches to coaching. Echoing a quote from American industrialist Henry Ford, Gilkes noted that growth depends on continuous learning: anyone who stops learning, whether they are 20 or 80 years old, is stagnant, while those who keep learning remain engaged and youthful. Unlike the sport-specific training he had previously completed for his focus area of football, Gilkes explained that the Caribbean Coaching Certification Program provided a broad, cross-cutting foundation that applies to all athletic disciplines.

    Gilkes also shared the cohort’s collective commitment to shifting outdated public perceptions of physical education, which he said is still often sidelined as a secondary priority in many Caribbean communities. “We are committed to changing that narrative,” he said. “Physical education will be recognized as the beacon it is: a driver of educational transformation and social advancement across our region.” Closing his remarks, Gilkes cited an ancient Chinese proverb to underscore the long-term impact of the work: short-term planning yields short-term gains, but investing in education creates lasting, generational change that benefits communities for a lifetime.

  • Chef launches food business in tribute to late daughter

    Chef launches food business in tribute to late daughter

    For nearly 10 years, Shakira Drakes honed her culinary craft across some of Barbados’ most respected food and hospitality venues, working her way up from an entry-level salad station role to senior management. Now, this veteran chef is channeling a lifetime of experience and profound personal grief into a new venture that honors her greatest loss: on what would have been her late daughter’s 21st birthday, Drakes officially opened the doors to Kira’s Cuisine, her very own eatery located at St. James’ Husbands Heights Park.

    Reflecting on the bittersweet milestone at the launch event Thursday, Drakes shared that opening her business on this meaningful date was a deliberate choice, one designed to celebrate both her daughter’s memory and her own journey through grief. “I’m very proud to say that I started my business yesterday on my daughter’s birthday. She would have been 21,” Drakes said. “I wanted to do something really amazing to reflect my resilience, my humbleness and my art.”

    Drakes’ culinary career began at Barbados’ Open Kitchen, where she started in an entry-level role before working her way up to supervisor. Over the following years, she built her skills and reputation across a roster of iconic local establishments, including luxury resort Sandy Lane, popular waterfront venue Pier One, and Fusions Rooftop. Her most recent position as a restaurant manager gave her the confidence and expertise to strike out on her own, fulfilling a long-held personal goal. “I wanted to be an entrepreneur. I wanted to do this for myself and for my children,” she explained.

    The path to opening Kira’s Cuisine was not without its setbacks, Drakes acknowledged. She originally planned to operate from a mobile food trailer, but securing a permitted, suitable parking location proved far more challenging than she anticipated. For weeks, she persisted in searching for a spot, but repeated dead ends left her discouraged and ready to abandon the dream. “Every week we were still connected until one time it was like I gave up. I wanted to throw in the towel because it was very depressing,” she recalled.

    Drakes credits her network of supporters with pushing her to keep going, when she was ready to walk away. In particular, she highlighted the ongoing encouragement of Taahir Bulbulia and representatives from the Barbados Trust Fund Ltd, who worked alongside her to secure the Husbands Heights Park location. After months of searching, Bulbulia delivered the good news she had been waiting for: “He said: ‘Kira, I get a spot for you.’ From there it was nothing but up,” Drakes said.

    Today, Kira’s Cuisine serves a diverse, accessible menu of casual comfort food and signature dishes to the St. James community, ranging from chicken and fried fish platters to tacos, blackened fish entrees, subs, and fresh wraps. Drakes also emphasized that all menu items are certified halal, expanding accessible dining options for Muslim consumers in the area. The eatery operates 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Thursday, and 11:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays, and remains closed on Sundays.

  • Dems reject ‘draconian’ elder protection bill

    Dems reject ‘draconian’ elder protection bill

    Barbados’ main opposition Democratic Labour Party (DLP) has launched a scathing attack on the government’s proposed Protection of Older Persons Bill, arguing the draft legislation prioritizes criminalization over desperately needed social support for the island’s growing aging population. In an official statement released Thursday, DLP’s spokesperson for health and elder affairs Felicia Dujon outlined the party’s “grave concern” over sweeping law enforcement powers granted under the bill, including provisions that allow police to arrest suspected offenders without a warrant and enter private residential properties to pursue individuals accused of violating the law.

    Dujon labeled the proposed legislation draconian, excessive, dangerous, and deeply insulting to low-income Barbadian families grappling with economic strain. “Instead of building stronger support systems for families caring for aging relatives, this government appears determined to police poverty and criminalise desperation,” she said.

    Citing official demographic data showing that adults over the age of 65 now make up 16 percent of Barbados’ total population, the DLP emphasized that thousands of families are already providing unpaid elder care with no government assistance, all while navigating sky-high inflation and stagnant wage growth. What the current administration frames as intentional neglect, the party argues, is most often the result of caregiver burnout or a complete lack of accessible resources to support at-home care.

    One of the most contentious provisions of the bill is the plan to create a mandatory national registry for people convicted of elder abuse offenses. The DLP has highlighted a striking policy irony in this priority: Barbados has yet to establish a fully operational, comprehensive registry for convicted sex offenders, a gap that puts vulnerable women and children at ongoing risk.

    “It is astonishing and deeply troubling that the government is moving with urgency to establish a registry for persons convicted of elder abuse offences while Barbados still does not have a comprehensive and functioning sex offenders registry to monitor individuals convicted of sexual crimes against women and children,” Dujon said.

    The opposition stressed that it does not tolerate or excuse elder abuse in any form, but that the Mia Mottley administration’s policy priorities are clearly misplaced. Dujon pointed out that the proposed elder abuse registry would be one of the first fully operational convicted offender registries in the country — created not to track rapists or child molesters, but to target people, most often struggling relatives, accused or convicted under the new elder abuse laws.

    The DLP also used its critique of the bill to raise questions about the long-delayed construction of Barbados’ new Geriatric Hospital. As of 2026, Dujon noted, the public has received almost no substantive updates on the project’s progress, and the government has chosen to push punitive legislation forward rather than prioritizing the completion of critical geriatric healthcare infrastructure.

    “Barbadians deserve support, compassion, and meaningful solutions, not blame, intimidation, and legislation designed to punish citizens who are already struggling to survive,” Dujon added.

    The DLP has laid out a clear set of demands for the government to revise the bill before moving forward with parliamentary consideration. These demands include: withdrawing or making sweeping amendments to the controversial provisions; eliminating the broad authority for warrantless arrests; pausing plans for the proposed elder abuse registry until broad national public consultations can be held; prioritizing the creation of a comprehensive national sex offender registry first; increasing public investment in elder care institutions and formal caregiver support programs; releasing an urgent public update on the status of the new Geriatric Hospital; expanding financial and social assistance for families providing at-home elder care; and holding genuine, inclusive consultations with healthcare workers, family caregivers, senior citizens, legal experts, and civil society organizations before advancing any further legislative action.

  • Hantavirus risk remains low amid cruise ship cluster, officials say

    Hantavirus risk remains low amid cruise ship cluster, officials say

    A small cluster of hantavirus infections linked to a Central Atlantic cruise ship has triggered monitoring efforts from regional and global health bodies, who are working to ease public panic while reinforcing border surveillance protocols.

    Local medical leaders in Barbados, a key Caribbean cruise hub, have moved quickly to reassure residents and visitors that the situation remains contained. Dr. Lynda Williams, president of the Barbados Association of Medical Practitioners, told local outlet Barbados TODAY that there is no current justification for widespread alarm. “We are watching it, we’re observing and we’re listening to the updates,” Williams said, noting that the World Health Organization has not issued elevated warnings at this stage.

    Williams explained that while hantavirus is not typically transmissible between humans, the variant identified in the current cluster—the Andes strain—is the only documented subtype capable of limited person-to-person spread. She confirmed the affected cruise vessel has been placed under full quarantine, and the outbreak is currently under control. Hantavirus is extremely rare in Barbados, Williams added, with local cases almost always tied to direct rodent exposure, and she has only treated three to four cases across her entire decades-long career. Far more common bacterial infections like leptospirosis pose a far greater regular public health risk on the island, she noted. “It is nothing to worry about as yet. There’s nothing that has indicated to us that this is being spread in a widespread manner that is even an epidemic, furthermore, pandemic. There’s no need to panic,” Williams said.

    The global public health community was first notified of the cluster last Saturday, when the United Kingdom’s International Health Regulations focal point alerted WHO to a group of respiratory illnesses among passengers and crew aboard the Central Atlantic cruise ship. Laboratory testing has already confirmed hantavirus in one critically ill patient. As of Thursday, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus reported a total of eight identified cases: five confirmed infections and three suspected cases, all linked to the rare Andes strain.

    The Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA), the regional body coordinating public health across Caribbean nations, has also joined efforts to calm growing public anxiety, confirming Wednesday that the overall regional risk remains low. “At this time, the risk to the Caribbean region is considered low,” said CARPHA Executive Director Dr. Lisa Indar. She explained that in the Americas, hantaviruses are most often carried by wild field rodents rather than common urban rat populations, a trait that makes sustained community transmission far less likely.

    Even with the low current risk, CARPHA is urging member states to maintain active vigilance and strengthen public health surveillance at major ports of entry, given the Caribbean’s outsized role in the global cruise industry. The region accounts for roughly 44% of global cruise traffic, and welcomed an estimated 16.3 million cruise passengers in 2025 alone. Indar noted that CARPHA’s existing Tourism and Health Information System and Caribbean Vessel Surveillance System are already active as key early warning tools to detect and respond to public health threats linked to tourism and maritime travel.

    Global WHO officials have further clarified the risks of the current outbreak, drawing a clear line between this hantavirus cluster and the emergence of COVID-19 in 2020 that triggered a global pandemic. “At this stage, the overall public health risk remains low,” Tedros confirmed. “This is not SARS-CoV-2. This is not the start of a COVID pandemic,” added Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO’s acting director for epidemic and pandemic management.

    For context, hantaviruses are a family of viruses naturally hosted by rodent populations that can cause severe, life-threatening illness in humans. Most human infections occur after direct contact with infected rodents, or exposure to their urine, droppings, or saliva. In the Americas, including South America where the Andes strain originates, infection causes hantavirus cardiopulmonary syndrome (HCPS), a severe respiratory condition with a case fatality rate as high as 50%. The Andes strain is the only hantavirus subtype with confirmed limited human-to-human transmission, which only occurs after close, prolonged contact between people—most commonly among household members, intimate partners, or healthcare workers treating infected patients. In Europe and Asia, different hantavirus subtypes cause hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS), marked by high fever, kidney damage or failure, and internal bleeding.

  • QEH bolstering surveillance to protect staff, patients

    QEH bolstering surveillance to protect staff, patients

    Against a backdrop of growing frequency of shootings and violent encounters that have strained hospital operations across Barbados, Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) is moving forward with a targeted set of security upgrades to safeguard frontline staff and patients, chief executive Neil Clark has confirmed. In an exclusive interview with Barbados TODAY Wednesday, held on the sidelines of the launch event for digital information management firm Abergower, Clark outlined the timeline and scope of the planned changes, emphasizing that the enhanced measures have become a critical necessity for the facility at this juncture.

    First on the agenda is specialized additional training for all QEH security personnel, set to be delivered by the national prison service this month. The training will focus on de-escalation and safe management of aggressive, high-risk individuals, equipping on-site security teams with the tools to respond effectively to volatile situations.

    Alongside training, the hospital is rolling out body-worn cameras for all security staff, a transparency and accountability measure Clark says will benefit both security officers and the public. “The core purpose of these cameras is two-fold: it creates an official record of any incident that unfolds, and the knowledge that interactions are being recorded often encourages calmer behavior from all parties involved,” Clark explained. “This not only helps clarify what happens in the event of a dispute, but also acts as a proactive deterrent to aggression.”

    Unlike broad overhauls that would add large numbers of new security staff, QEH’s strategy prioritizes improving infrastructure and capability within its existing workforce structure. The hospital is also expanding its closed-circuit video surveillance network across more areas of the facility, giving management real-time visibility into developing incidents across the campus. Clark noted that once training is complete and body cameras are fully deployed, QEH leadership will conduct a review to assess whether further upgrades are required. For now, he says, the existing split of in-house security personnel and contracted outsourced staff remains sufficient to handle current demand.

    Clark explained that the hybrid staffing model is strategically deployed to leverage the strengths of both teams: in-house security, who are on-site full-time, have stronger familiarity with QEH’s layout and protocols, making them far more responsive to emerging incidents. Outsourced staff primarily handle static gate monitoring duties, allowing the in-house team to be deployed to high-risk areas that require rapid, flexible support.

    The QEH chief also commended the existing partnership between hospital security and local law enforcement, pointing to their fast, coordinated response during violent incidents that bring shooting and stabbing victims to the hospital’s Accident and Emergency (A&E) department. “Whenever we receive a patient with a gunshot wound, officers arrive on site within minutes, and maintain a visible physical presence to prevent follow-up attacks from rival parties who may try to come to the hospital to complete an act of violence,” Clark said. “Security teams work hand-in-hand with A&E clinical staff to secure the area quickly, which has been extremely effective so far.”

    Even with effective response protocols in place, Clark acknowledged that violent incidents create major disruptions to hospital operations. Most shootings require an immediate full or partial lockdown of the emergency department to contain risk, which slows the delivery of care for other patients and creates anxiety among clinical staff and visitors. Redirecting clinical and security staff to manage the lockdown also pushes out wait times for patients seeking care for unrelated conditions, a trade-off Clark says is unavoidable when safety is at stake.

    Beyond physical security measures, QEH has put in place dedicated mental health support for staff who experience trauma during violent incidents. Clark says the facility offers access to professional counsellors for all employees, and the local vicar also provides on-demand emotional support. Team leaders conduct routine debriefs after major incidents to normalize any stress or anxiety that staff may experience, and encourage employees to access support services even if they don’t feel immediate impacts, since traumatic responses can emerge over time.

    “Our priority is two-fold: keep everyone on campus safe physically, and make sure our team has the support they need to process these traumatic events,” Clark added.

  • Govt defends migration policy at UN forum

    Govt defends migration policy at UN forum

    Just days after facing heated parliamentary pushback over its controversial planned immigration overhauls, Barbados’ government has carried its policy argument to the global stage, telling a key United Nations gathering that strategic migration management is non-negotiable for the small island nation’s economic survival amid cascading demographic decline, workforce contraction and accelerating climate change pressures.

    Speaking at the Second International Migration Review Forum in New York, Barbados’ Minister of Home Affairs Gregory Nicholls framed migration as a core development strategy rather than a policy challenge for small island developing states (SIDS) grappling with widespread labor gaps, aging populations and climate-driven instability. The quadrennial forum serves as the UN’s flagship global convening, bringing together governments, civil society and private sector stakeholders to evaluate progress on the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration, share lessons from implementation hurdles, and align on future commitments to improve global migration governance.

    “Migration, managed well, is not a burden. It is an engine for creativity, innovation and growth,” Nicholls told assembled delegates in his address.

    His comments came on the heels of a fiercely contested debate in Barbados’ House of Assembly over proposed updates to the country’s immigration and citizenship legislation, which the administration has positioned as a critical response to years of population shrinkage, high rates of outward migration among skilled workers, and growing strain on the domestic labor market. During the parliamentary debate, Nicholls emphasized that Barbados’ shrinking and rapidly aging population poses an existential threat to long-term economic growth, the long-term solvency of the national pension system, and the country’s ability to compete in the global tourism and digital services sectors.

    Expanding on that framing for the international audience, Nicholls stressed that for SIDS, climate change and migration are inextricably linked policy priorities, not separate issues. “For small island developing states, climate change and migration are not parallel agendas – they are the same agenda,” he said.

    Nicholls also used the UN platform to highlight Barbados’ recent progress advancing regional integration through a landmark free movement agreement launched last October with three other Caribbean nations: Belize, Dominica, and St Vincent and the Grenadines. The pact grants citizens of all participating states the right to live and work without time limits across member territories, while guaranteeing equal access to public healthcare and primary and secondary education for migrant workers’ children. “This is not generosity. It is obligation built on political will, regional solidarity and human rights,” Nicholls said of the agreement.

    Barbados is also currently developing a comprehensive national migration policy aligned with regional frameworks from the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and the UN Global Compact for Migration. According to Nicholls, the new policy will streamline legal migration pathways, upgrade border management infrastructure and systems, and align immigration rules with the country’s broader economic growth goals.

    This policy direction mirrors key provisions of the Immigration Bill currently under parliamentary consideration, which includes expanded temporary residency categories, more flexible eligibility requirements for permanent residency, and a new points-based merit immigration system designed to attract skilled workers, foreign direct investment, and high-net-worth retirees. The government has repeatedly argued that the reforms are critical to offset decades of demographic decline and boost Barbados’ competitiveness in the global race to attract high-value human capital and business investment.

    Nicholls used his address to renew international backing for climate finance reform through the Bridgetown Initiative, a global advocacy push led by Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley to restructure global development finance and unlock more affordable funding for climate adaptation and loss and damage in vulnerable developing nations. He warned that climate-related displacement is already placing unprecedented strain on border systems, food security and domestic political stability for small island states, stressing that proactive migration planning is a core part of climate adaptation.

    “Migration should be seen as an option, and not a mere act of survival,” he said.

    The minister also outlined ongoing efforts to deepen engagement with the large Barbadian diaspora communities in the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States, through initiatives to encourage diaspora investment, skills sharing with domestic workers, and return migration for Barbadians living overseas who wish to resettle in their home country.

    Closing his address, Nicholls emphasized that Barbados’ participation in the UN forum was not only to share its national perspective, but to build new global and regional partnerships to advance the shared goal of “safe, orderly and dignified migration” for all.

  • Onion glut leaves farmers struggling as imports persist, BAS warns

    Onion glut leaves farmers struggling as imports persist, BAS warns

    A paradoxical crisis has hit Barbados’s onion sector: after a successful government-backed push to expand domestic cultivation that delivered a strong harvest, hundreds of local farmers are now unable to offload their produce, according to warnings from the Barbados Agricultural Society (BAS).

    James Paul, chief executive officer of the industry association, laid out the roots of the crisis during a press briefing. Over the past year, agricultural advocates successfully persuaded local growers to scale up onion planting, pushing total cultivated acreage past the 100-acre mark – a major milestone for the country’s goal of boosting food security and reducing reliance on imports. But this win has laid bare deep, long-unaddressed flaws in the sector’s marketing, distribution and infrastructure frameworks.

    The most pressing issue, Paul explained, is the unregulated flow of imported onions that continues to saturate the local market exactly when domestic crops reach peak harvest. Competing against cheaper foreign shipments puts local producers, who already face far higher production costs than their international competitors, at an insurmountable disadvantage. Paul argued this misaligned policy undermines the very government efforts to expand domestic agriculture.

    “I do not think it makes any logical sense to allow imports during windows where we know a large local harvest is incoming,” Paul said. “When we encourage farmers to invest in expanding production, we have a responsibility to plan ahead for how that produce will reach consumers. Right now, we are forcing growers to compete with imported goods on uneven ground, and that is unfair.”

    Beyond misaligned import policy, gaps in post-harvest infrastructure and storage are compounding farmers’ struggles. Unlike imported onions, which are treated to withstand long-haul shipping, locally grown onions require carefully controlled, well-ventilated storage environments that protect the crop from pests and spoilage. Many of these specialized facilities have fallen into disrepair, Paul said, pointing to the shuttered historic drying plant in Foursquare, St. Philip as an example of the lost infrastructure the sector needs to restore or replace.

    Fragmented coordination among individual farmers has also weakened the sector’s position, Paul added. Without collective organizing, small-scale growers lack collective bargaining power when negotiating with middlemen, and cannot deliver the consistent supply and pricing that major buyers require. This disorganization leaves individual producers vulnerable to exploitation, often forcing them to sell their crop below the cost of production just to clear inventory.

    This dynamic threatens the long-term viability of domestic onion cultivation: if farmers cannot earn a reasonable return on their investment this season, Paul warned, few will be willing to expand planting in the coming year. Currently, just 20% of Barbados’s total onion demand is met by local production, but Paul said the country has the natural capacity to meet 100% of domestic demand if systemic flaws are addressed. With targeted improvements to storage, marketing and coordination, Paul estimated that total cultivated acreage could double to 200 acres within 12 months, creating a more resilient, self-sufficient domestic onion sector.

    As intermittent rainfall threatens remaining unharvested crops, Paul has urged all local onion farmers to share real-time updates on their yields and harvest timelines with the BAS to enable better cross-sector market coordination. He also called for closer collaboration between private sector stakeholders and the state-owned Barbados Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation (BADMC) to fix gaps in the national onion value chain.

    “Barbados has the ability to fully supply our own onion demand, we can do this,” Paul emphasized. “Right now, we are holding ourselves back from reaching our full potential by failing to put the right systems in place. We all have to work together to fix this – we cannot let farmers invest their time and money into a crop just to be left stuck with unsellable produce.”

  • Worrell: Currency shifts won’t affect Caribbean economies

    Worrell: Currency shifts won’t affect Caribbean economies

    Long-established market forces have cemented the United States dollar’s position as the undisputed global standard of value, and recent fluctuations in other major currencies will bring no meaningful economic shifts to Caribbean nations, according to a prominent former central banking leader from the region.

    Dr Delisle Worrell, former governor of the Central Bank of Barbados and a veteran International Monetary Fund consultant, laid out this argument in the May issue of his regularly published Economic Letter, which carries the headline *The Dollar is the World’s Standard of Value*.

    Worrell stressed that Caribbean economies are structured entirely around the US dollar for cross-border activity. Every key external transaction for the region—from pricing tourist packages to settling export and import trades, to securing foreign debt—uses the US dollar as the benchmark, and all clearing processes run through dollar-denominated accounts hosted by American commercial banks and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Against this backdrop, recent upward movements in the value of sterling, the Canadian dollar, the euro, the Japanese yen and the Chinese renminbi will not alter core economic conditions for Caribbean countries, he said.

    The former governor, who also founded the Central Bank of Barbados’ research department, pointed out that the primary spillover harm from today’s global economic instability hitting Caribbean nations is imported inflation. He outlined a clear threshold for policy response: only countries where governments hold a fiscal surplus of revenue over current expenditure exceeding 2% of GDP have the capacity to roll out targeted subsidies to cap fuel and essential goods prices. For all other regional economies, there are few policy tools available to ease inflationary pressure, he added.

    Worrell also issued a strong caution against one commonly proposed policy adjustment: revaluing domestic currencies to counteract inflation brought in from global markets. He explained that if a central bank drew down its foreign currency reserves to push the domestic exchange rate higher, market participants including commercial banks, import and export firms, and tourism operators would almost certainly hoard the cheapened US dollars instead of passing the exchange rate benefits through to consumers and other end users.

    Global monetary data backs his broader claim about the dollar’s dominance: out of 180 legally recognized sovereign currencies across the world, the value of all 179 non-US currencies is defined relative to the dollar, Worrell noted. This status quo is not dependent on US government policy, shifts in the US or global economy, or price movements of gold, oil or other commodities, he said. It also has not been dislodged by the emergence of cryptocurrencies built on blockchain technology or any other fintech innovation. “All economic values are based on the dollar,” he concluded.

    Worrell frames the dollar’s global benchmark status as a historical convention, comparable to the widespread adoption of Greenwich Mean Time as a global time standard. He traced the 80-year evolution of this arrangement: after World War II ended in 1945, the global economy split into two separate geopolitical and economic blocs, with the United States holding overwhelming sway over trade and finance in the Western democratic sphere. This established the dollar as the reference currency for all nations outside the Soviet-led bloc. When the Soviet Union collapsed in the early 1990s, the dollar’s use as a global reference spread to every corner of the world.

    Crucially, Worrell emphasized that the dollar’s dominance emerged from organic market practice rather than top-down policy mandate from the United States or global institutions. Individual consumers, multinational companies and financial institutions across the world have consistently chosen the dollar as the go-to reference for settling cross-border transactions. He offered a common example: a consumer in Jamaica purchasing goods from Chinese suppliers will almost always first calculate the cost in US dollars before converting the total to Jamaican dollars for their final budgeting.

    This entrenched market preference has outlasted every challenge to the dollar’s status, Worrell argued. Even as major economies including post-war Germany, Japan and most recently China rose to become the world’s second-largest economy, global markets have retained the dollar as the primary settlement currency. The dollar’s benchmark position also emerged unscathed from the 2007–2008 global financial crisis and the subsequent downgrading of market confidence in US government creditworthiness.

    Today, despite growing uncertainty around the direction of US policy and the global economic volatility this unpredictability generates, there is no evidence of a broad global shift away from the dollar toward the euro, renminbi or any other alternative currency to serve as the universal standard of value, Worrell said.

  • Dad: ‘Most intense month’ as Noi begins cancer treatment

    Dad: ‘Most intense month’ as Noi begins cancer treatment

    A 19-year-old Barbadian woman, Noi Jemmott, is now in Bogotá, Colombia, entering what medical professionals call the most high-stakes phase of her fight against an aggressive, fast-growing blood cancer. Jemmott received a diagnosis of Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia (ALL), a rapidly progressing cancer that impacts bone marrow and blood cell production, and began urgent, intensive chemotherapy earlier this week, according to her father Janson Jemmott. In an exclusive interview with Barbados TODAY Thursday, Janson, a Barbadian barber, shared that the coming 30 days of treatment will be a pivotal turning point for his daughter’s chance of full remission.

    Over the first few days of her arrival in Colombia, clinical teams completed a battery of confirmatory tests to verify the initial diagnosis, map the spread of the cancer, and refine a targeted treatment plan tailored to Noi’s specific case. “The first couple of days they were running tests to make sure that the diagnosis was correct, and to find the best course of action to deal with the diagnosis,” Janson explained. “As of [Wednesday], they have started treatment – she has started chemo – and that will run for the first month. It’s gonna be the most intense month.”

    As part of the first phase of care, Noi is scheduled to undergo two routine procedures this week: a minor surgery to place a central venous catheter in her chest to simplify consistent chemotherapy administration, and a lumbar puncture (spinal tap) to test whether cancer cells have spread to her central nervous system. Despite the gravity of her diagnosis and the grueling treatment schedule ahead, Janson said his daughter has maintained an extraordinary level of resilience and positive spirit.

    “I video called her earlier this morning and she was smiling,” Janson shared. “I tell her keep your smile. So that is comforting – very comforting – when I call her and I can see that she is still who she is. She is a very beautiful girl, very sweet girl.”

    Janson admitted that the journey has been emotionally devastating for the entire family, but the overwhelming wave of support from strangers and loved ones across Barbados has softened the blow and given them strength to keep fighting. Donations to cover Noi’s costly overseas treatment have poured in from across the island, ranging from small $5 contributions to larger gifts, and Janson says each donation carries a meaning that goes far beyond its monetary value.

    “Each time I get a call from some person, it’s extremely emotional for me,” he said. “You live in a world where there’s so much negative stuff going on, but when something like this happens, you can see the positive feedback from people. The people that donated $5 – that might have been that person’s last $5 – but they still donated. To feel the love from people that I don’t even know, it’s very overwhelming. In this day where so much negatives are going on, people need something positive to hold on to.”

    Janson also opened up about the emotional toll the diagnosis has taken on Noi, revealing that she recently broke down in tears for the first time since learning she had cancer – a moment that he says drove home how difficult this fight is for her. Even so, he added, her strength has never wavered for long. “She has been very strong,” he said. “I really admire her.”

    In the coming days, Janson will travel to Colombia to be by his daughter’s side ahead of the most intensive weeks of chemotherapy, a treatment that nearly always causes full hair loss. He plans to personally cut Noi’s hair before treatment begins, a small act of love and support to help her prepare for what’s ahead.

    For Janson, every donation and message of support is more than just financial help to cover medical bills and travel costs. “Each donation I see as hope – not as dollars,” he said. “I know it’s going on account as dollars, but I see hope. I just want to thank everyone that has supported so far. Each call is very emotional. It has made me feel like, yes, there’s still hope.”

    Janson is optimistic that Noi will respond well to treatment, and is holding onto hope that she will be able to return home to Barbados to resume her normal life within six months. If complications arise, the treatment and recovery process could extend to almost a year, but Janson says the family is preparing for whatever comes and remains committed to fighting alongside Noi. “Best case scenario, I’m hoping that in six months, my daughter should be back in Barbados,” he said. “Worst-case scenario, we could have this fight going on for almost one year. But I’m hoping that’s not the case. I want my daughter back… I miss her.”

    Community members who wish to support Noi’s treatment can contribute via three channels: a dedicated GoFundMe page at https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-noi-jemmott-fly-to-colombia-for-lifesaving-treatment, a CIBC bank account numbered 1001282704, or through First Pay to the registered email cathyallman@gmail.com.