Minister of Culture, Sports and Youth, Stephen Lashley (right), stands with Charles Miller (left) and Waple Lewis (second from left), the two community activists from St. George who assisted in the tree planting exercise. Also, sharing the moment is Executive Director of The Productivity Council, John Pilgrim.
The symbolic planting of two fruit trees yesterday, signalled the start of a “Planting Pride” Initiative, which will touch local communities across the eleven parishes, engendering a sense of pride in Barbadians, who will be asked to pay more attention to their environment and their levels of productivity.
According to Minister of Culture, Sports and Youth, Stephen Lashley, the initiative has come about due to a partnership between his Ministry, via the Community Independence Secretariat and the Productivity Council. It is being undertaken under the slogan, “Securing Productivity Through Our Communities”, and the tree planting programme is moving forward under this banner.
As the community-based initiative got underway yesterday, Minister Lashley teamed up with Charles Miller and Waple Lewis, two community activists from St. George, to plant the two fruit trees – a sugar apple tree, as well as a soursop tree – during a tree planting ceremony which took place at Crystal Gardens, The Glebe, St. George.
Crystal Gardens is a beautifully kept green space located just outside the St. George Parish Church. It was in this arena that Minister Lashley stressed the need for Barbadians on a whole to take pride in their communities, and to fully embrace the initiative.
“This programme is part of a wider programme which we have themed ‘Planting Pride’, and Planting Pride is meant to rekindle in our minds and in our lives, the importance that we play in creating meaningful change at the community level,” the Minister commented.
“It starts by the planting of these trees in this community, which marks the St. George leg of this important journey, and we are indeed taking pride in our community, by showing that we care about it at all levels,” he added.
“I want to publicly congratulate those community-spirited persons who have taken the initiative to either beautify their immediate surroundings, or find open spaces, such as this one that we are currently on, to transform into a place of natural beauty. I believe that that is what we need more across Barbados”, Lashley further remarked.
Executive Director of The Productivity Council, John Pilgrim, meanwhile noted that the tree planting exercise is just one of many more to come during 2017, which is now earmarked as the Year of Productivity.
“We talk about productivity, but sometimes we forget that the environment is very important. We have a large food import bill. If you can instil in the minds of persons that planting trees is part of a wider effort to reduce our food import bill, planting trees is part of our own personal contribution to the food basket of Barbados; why not do it?” he commented.
“So we are hoping to plant a tree in every parish. The more, the merrier” he concluded.