“Don’t be like CARICOM.”
That’s the warning from Economist Dr. Indera Sagewan to Finance Minister Davendranath Tancoo, urging him to stay committed to his promises on agriculture made during Monday’s budget presentation.
“We can’t produce all that we need to eat. That is a fact. We are a small island state. We have farming land competing with housing. So we have to be strategic. You didn’t list them, but 15 crops to be identified. But more importantly, that step further to say, three crops will be prioritised per annum. I feel like you’ve been listening to me, Minister, so thank you on that. Three crops per annum. We have to take a strategic approach. Again, you can’t just have a blanket statement. If you tell us what the three crops is in this year, at the end of the year, we can know if progress has been made. But more importantly, you have set a target to reduce the food import bill by 25% by 2030. Now please, don’t be like CARICOM. CARICOM shifts from a ’25 by 25′ to a ’25 by 30′ and I’m expecting they’ll shift it to ’25 by 35.'”
She emphasised that the Minister will be held accountable for all other promises made in his budget presentation on Monday.
“Minister, we have heard repeatedly for over 20-30 years, we have heard about food security, about tourism and sports tourism, health tourism, all of these things are not new words. We’ve heard them again in your budget, but we need to go beyond words, and I think to a large extent, Minister, to your credit, you have gone, but you certainly set targets in here that you will be held to account for, and I see the Minister of Trade is here, who we know is a major player in the whole issue of non-energy diversification, and therefore you too will be held to account.”