Expectations for the evolution of agriculture in T&T remain high.
Agriculture Consultant Shiraz Khan says he is closely watching the government’s treatment of the sector.
“Based on the election promises and the meetings that we had prior leading up to the budget, public meetings that is, I thought we would have seen a much more enhanced package for the agriculture sector, especially with the grandiose plans of reducing the food import bill by 25%. Well, if you want to reduce our food import bill and you want to cut the budget by $2 billion? Well, I expected a little more something into that.”
Mr. Khan recalled that the government had said they would align with CARICOM’s “25 by 2025” initiative to reduce food imports by at least 25% by 2030 while promoting agro-exports.
He says if changes are not made, the transformation of the sector may be delayed.
“We need a better package and a more specific outlining of where the areas that we have problems in. And I was hoping to hear something specifically about praedial larceny. I didn’t hear that. But I’m waiting to see how the distribute goes and where any changes are going to come or any additional will come in. I’m waiting to see that.”
The government allocated TT$1.13 billion to the agriculture sector in the 2025/2026 budget.