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Established October 1895 Mental health fear still there Page 2 Tuesday April 20, 2021 $1 VAT Inclusive Slight delay to sugar crop ASH fall from the La Soufrière volcano in St. Vincent has de- layed the sugar harvest in this country by approximately one week. So says Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Indar Weir. He made the disclo- sure as he gave an update on the ongoing harvest, during the Public Affairs Department’s programme ‘One on One’, which was televised on Sunday night. He explained that the 2021 sugar harvest was “going well”, despite the downtime ex- perienced at the Portvale Factory, because of its age; then the ash fall came. “I think we were putting much on track... and then be- cause of the ash fall we had to grind to a halt on Saturday. We will resume shortly, and then I would say we will finish the crop about one week late. But everything else is on track in terms of our yields. Our yields CLEAN UP CONTINUES: Cleanup continues of the widespread volcanic ash across the island from the erupting La are looking extremely good, Soufriere volcano in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Yesterday, The Barbados Advocate caught this team cleaning up this we’re projecting 110,000 section of Bay Street. tonnes of cane, and we’re pretty much on track to achieve that,” he stated. Lower tonnage Admitting that it is lower ton- nage than previous years,he Public explained that this is as a re- warned: sult of the “tremendous” RIGHT TO changes taking place in the in- ‘Follow dustry, including the number of the farmers involved in businesses’ sugar cane production. protocols “So the BAMC [Barbados Agricultural Management or else’ Agency] basically is doing a lot of heavy lifting to rebuild the DENY ENTRY industry to what we would like it to be and that is at its opti- AN individual can be denied tents of sanitisers at some busi- entry, you either stick to those or sure what these persons have in mum. We’re never going to get entry to a business if they nesses, they often desired to use you do not shop there.The issue their bottle, so you cannot verify back to the glory days of sugar, refuse to use the hand sani- their own hand sanitiser in- has been that some will say they that their hands are being sani- but we’ve made some signifi- tiser provided. stead, but stated this was not have their own sanitiser and tised properly, so it is quite cant changes. Those changes Head of the COVID-19 an option, as establishments while a lot of people carry their within the rights of the entre- include producing what is con- Monitoring Unit Ronald had to ensure all safety and own sanitiser, there are some preneur or business house to de- sidered to be wet sugar, so we Chapman sought to make it health protocols were observed who have determined they do termine who has access to their are looking at more molasses clear that any business on the is- in the fight against COVID to not want anybody putting any- business, and if you do not want production so that we can help land has the right to deny entry protect both staff and clients. thing on their hand so they put to wear a mask or do not want to our rum industry especially to members of the public, includ- “A business is a privately- their own stuff in their own bot- sanitise then it may be better to when they go towards a GI [ge- ing those that ignore this owned enterprise and they have tle. go shop somewhere else,” ographical indication]. A lot of COVID-19 protocol. the right to deny anyone they “Since we are trying to pre- Chapman added. the inputs that would go into He said as some individuals see fit entry into that establish- vent COVID and it is a commu- He was speaking as a guest SUGAR on Page 4 were skeptical about the con- ment and if they have rules of nity effort, businesses are not on ‘Covid Queries’ yesterday. 2 • Tuesday April 20, 2021 The Barbados Advocate Autism Association of Barbados highlights plans, including conducting massive survey By Marsha Gittens Autism Awareness He also said they “would view with The Barbados “kind of information is tion units in them or for Month. like [to] run classes to try Advocate. He addition- not clearly available”. children on the spectrum THE Autism Word of this came from to instruct people how to ally spoke of plans of con- Johnson also said this so that we can gather as Association of President Frederick handle things like time ducting a massive survey info will be placed in the much information as pos- Barbados is taking Johnson, who said among and calendars and di- to accurately have an paper the association will sible as to the population steps to create a num- the initiatives they are aries and money and ap- idea of the number of in- be producing to present that we have to deal ber of developmental trying to develop is a pro- pointments”. dividuals in Barbados to Cabinet as they lobby with.” programmes for its gramme “whereby basic His comments came re- who are autistic and their for adults with autism He continued, “because members during this, life skills” will be taught. cently during an inter- genders. He said this who are unable to work to right now the population be granted a non-contrib- and information on who utory pension. is autistic and how old “We are going to be in- they are, that kind of in- terviewing all of our par- formation is not clearly ents and children or find- available, but to prove ing out what our popula- our case we are going to tion is so that we have be undertaking a massive empirical evidence to put survey to find out where forward to back our case. these children are, how Therefore, we will be old they are, what kind of talking with the Ministry disability do they have – of Education, we will be is it a profound autism talking with the that they have on the Barbados Council for the spectrum or is it a mild Disabled, we will be talk- autism, whether they are ing to the various schools male or female and so who have special educa- on.” Mental health fear still there By Cara L. Jean-Baptiste sive mental health reform thrust which has been MENTAL health needs to taking place in the world be given the same priority from early mid 20th cen- as physical health despite tury to the present.There the stigma that is still have been great strides, carries. but it has not helped men- Speaking during a we- tal health be the poor re- binar hosted by the lation of health and when Barbados Association of I say that I mean in the Psychiatrists, Dr. Ermine context of it does not get Belle, Consultant as much attention that it Psychiatrist, highlighted needs,” she said. that there is still a stigma “So I think that we need attached to mental health to appreciate that the fear and this is something that is there and mental needed to be addressed, health is going to be a especially since there ap- problem and has become peared to be a mental a great problem in the health storm caused by COVID situation.” the COVID-19 pandemic. Likening the mental “Persons still have a health situation to that of problem accepting that a storm, Belle noted that they can be mentally ill; this situation has reached relatives don’t want any- a concerning stage and one to know that someone probably only reached in their family has a prob- this stage because they lem with mental illness stayed in the ‘warning’ and so we have a situa- phase a little too long and tion of ignoring, shutting were in ‘watch mode’ down, not talking about much longer than they and subscribing to not needed to be. telling what is going on in She believes that per- that situation,” she said. haps psychologists and As a result of that, Belle psychiatrists did not raise noted that mental health their voices loud enough is not dealt with properly. at the beginning of the “Physical health has pandemic because they been given priority all of believed that persons did these years and it is be- not want to hear them. cause there is a situation However, Belle stated where fear is the underly- that now was definitely ing problem, even though the time for them to do we have had an aggres- such. The Barbados Advocate Tuesday April 20, 2021 • 3 Solutions being sought for farmers WITH concern about the ash and we have had tifying sources of hay for Chief Agricultural Officer the sector, with some of be somewhere between how the recent ash fall some reports of some an- the animals. indicated. the crops turning brown 7.5 to 8.5, and starting to has affected forage for imals dying as a result of “Together with the Holder’s comments or being burnt, as the ash bring it down into the animals, there is it. The other aspect of Barbados Agricultural came as she noted that is washed into the soil by range that the plants ac- thought being given to that is now there is a con- Society,we have been cre- the ash can be dangerous rainfall or irrigation, it tually thrive best in importing hay for live- cern about using the ex- ating a list where farm- to the health of the ani- will become fertiliser for which is 5.8 to 6.5.

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