Trinidad & Guyana craft Food Development Plan

Aug 19, 2022 News

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Kaieteur News – In keeping with their goal to reduce their nations’ food import bill by 25 percent in the next three years, Trinidad and Tobago and Guyana have crafted a Food Development Plan for collaboration in a number of areas.

During a joint Press Conference in the Twin-Island Republic yesterday, Prime Minister, Dr. Keith Rowley who was accompanied by President, Dr. Irfaan Ali said the plan will see action being taken on rice cultivation, agro-processing, aquaculture, development of human resources, shade house and coconut initiatives, aquaculture, livestock production, corn and soya production, among other areas of interests.

The PM said, “Already some of our young people have gone to Guyana for training and our door is open to Guyanese as well for training too.” The TT official said Guyana has also graciously offered to provide 5000 coconut plants to help its CARICOM sister revive its industry which was devastated in the past by pests and diseases. Dr. Rowley said Guyana will also work with her TT counterpart to develop shade houses for certain high value crops. Locally, this initiative is already seeing a measured success with carrots, broccoli and cauliflower.

Dr. Rowley noted that the foregoing plan of action is in keeping with the efforts and vision of the country some time ago to address food security within the region.  The TT Prime Minister said, “In recent months, it has become clear that if we don’t do what we have been promising to do, threatening to do, and required to do to ensure we have proper production capacity and capabilities within the region which can be accessed by CARICOM then we can find ourself in great danger of not being able to feed ourselves in the not too distant future.”

Dr. Rowley noted that the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war drove home how vulnerable the region is and that even if it had the financing, it would not be able to access certain food products and raw materials because of supply chain disruptions. He stated categorically that the country’s model of “import what we eat” must change.

He said, “What we have been trying to do is crystallize our situation towards a case where we change the food model to one where we are supplying more of what we need in terms of food and inputs such as raw materials, increase production and do so by encouraging more youth to head into food production.”

The Prime Minister also reiterated the need for the removal of artificial barriers among CARICOM States or the goal of increasing production will not succeed. “If a CARICOM country is producing the food or raw material for making food and another CARICOM country has a barrier between us either because the pig has the wrong nose, the cow has the wrong colour, the milk is the wrong colour, whatever the barrier is, then increasing production for CARICOM security will not succeed. If we allow the market to accept safely from any CARICOM source then the CARICOM market can generate food production business on a scale that is effective and significant,” expressed the Prime Minister.

Dr. Rowley said a fierce approach is what is needed as experts have said what has happened in recent times (2020 to 2021 with the pandemic and the war) will likely be replicated in the future  not to mention the effects of the climate change phenomenon.

He said it is therefore necessary that disrupt the current comfort zones of models that rely on imported products. President Ali agreed with his colleague as he too noted that the region is faced with the greatest consequences of supply chain disruption because of two main factors. “Unless we are ready to make tough decisions and create an environment to develop capacity to address global challenges then prosperity will elude us. Both nations have therefore committed to advancing a series of actions that will position us as leaders in any problematic situation,” the Guyanese leader stated.

He was keen to note that both Trinidad and Guyana have the chance to leverage their respective talents and capabilities and build on their efforts for food security. In this regard, he noted that every stakeholder must be brought to the table.

President Ali said, “These are the weighty discussions we have had to ensure we have the right policy framework in place to support local farmers, the regional trade systems, and logistics framework to advance our plans on food security. Make no mistake, we don’t have the luxury of time to advance this matter of food security which is not only important from a price perspective but from a production perspective…”

During the President’s visit, matters pertaining to energy, youth development mainly in agriculture, and tourism were also discussed at the Diplomatic Centre in Port of Spain.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Hugh Todd, Minister of Agriculture, Zulfikar Mustapha, Minister of Tourism, Industry and Commerce, Oneidge Walrond and other government officials were part of the Guyanese delegation.

The Minister of Agriculture, Land and Fisheries, Kazim Hosein, the Minister of Energy and Energy Industries, Stuart Young,  the Minister of Foreign and CARICOM Affairs, Dr. Amery Browne, the Minister of Tourism, Culture and the Arts, Randall Mitchell, and the Minister of Trade and Industry, Paula Gopee-Scoon were among the representatives for Trinidad and Tobago.

 

 

 

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