As Independence Day nears, Minister of Agriculture, Land and Fisheries Ravi Ratiram says celebrating independence can come only when the nation can feed itself.
Speaking to agricultural stakeholders about the future of farming in the Naparima constituency on Wednesday, he said that reducing the food import bill and increasing the agricultural sector’s contribution to the national GDP from 2% to 5% would help the country achieve true independence.
“If it is agriculture continues to decline and the food import continues to go up, what will happen in the event of war or pandemic or some kind of logistic crisis that the country faces? We’ll starve because we are in a position where we cannot feed ourselves, and the only time we could celebrate independence as a nation it is only when a nation can feed itself; it is then that a nation is truly independent. Until such time, we will never be independent. We will always be dependent on external support and assistance.”
Minister Ratiram added that agro-processing is another area of focus. The facility gifted to Trinidad and Tobago by India following the official visit of the Indian Prime Minister will serve farmers in the production of cassava flour.
“This is a US$1 million agro-processing facility gifted to the government of Trinidad and Tobago from the government of India so that we can now introduce cassava flour, as the MP would have spoken about, made in Naparima. I know we have a lot of cassava farmers here as well, so that is something you can look forward to: no matter how much cassava you produce, what we’re looking at is value added.”
Addressing the backlog in the issuing of grants, subsidies, and incentives, he assured farmers that the government is working towards a solution.
“Farmers depend on their subsidies. They depend on their grants and their incentives and so forth, and there has been a backlog, but it is something that we understand within the Ministry. There’s an audit going on with respect to that agro incentive programme and as soon as I receive the report of that audit, I will be making it public.”
In addressing the issues impacting farmers, Minister Ratiram is hopeful that the country is one step closer to reducing the food import bill and achieving food security.