| Barbados Culture:
Barbados Natural Heritage:
Sugar Production
 Sugar
has been an ideal crop for Barbados. White gold as it was
called, produced great wealth, fame and stature for the island
and the original plantation owners, and was in many ways suited
to the island. It made good sense to grow sugar economically
and horticulturally as its root structure helped to preserve
the fragile top soil.
There are 1,500 small farms throughout Barbados which can
produce some 60,000 tons of sugar annually.
Mechanization
Yields of sugar per acre are below average
in Barbados compared to some other islands like Cuba. Poor
mechanization and dry seasons are to blame for this. Most
of the 30,000 acres being used for sugar farming in Barbados
are relatively small farms of 200 acres on average. To properly
benefit from mechanization a farm should be not less than
700 acres. In addition few farms in Barbados are on flat land,
and the hilly terrain is not the best for mechanization. This
was not a problem in the old days when manual labour was the
only form of harvesting, but as other regions have benefited
from mechanization, Barbados has not.
To find about more about the history of sugar production
in Barbados, visit the Sugar Museum.
Agriculture And Soil Preservation
 Sugar
Cane planting has been modified over the centuries to help
preserve the fragile top soil from erosion, but soil erosion
continues to be a problem in many parts of the island particularly
on the east coast. Sugar grows tall, its fibrous roots spread
out and help to bind the thin layer of soil, a mixture of
volcanic ash and sands, deposited over the years by winds
bringing seeds, and ash and flora from neighbouring islands
and distant lands. In recent times, Dr. Colin Hudson measured
6 tons per Acre of ash deposited in a single field as a result
of volcanic activity. Some say up to 30 tons per acre have
been clocked. The Coral Island of
Barbados, pushed out of the sea millions of years ago, owes
much to the active volcanoes in the region.
In the old days plantation owners grew other crops between
the rows of tall sugar canes. The fields were edged with ditches
so that water and earth running off collected and was not
lost. The practice still exists for many crops.
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