Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries Ravi Ratiram says a new experimental project being undertaken by the Ministry is aimed at reducing Trinidad and Tobago’s reliance on costly food imports.
In an interview with TTT News, he explained that Trinidad and Tobago spends over $200 million annually on the importation of animal feed.
“This is again a special project that we are doing. This corn is for livestock. It’s for animal feed. We import close to $256 million in corn on an annual basis. So again, this is to contribute towards import substitution.”
The seeds were planted in March 2026, together with black-eyed beans and soya beans.
“Lowering our food import bill and also creating opportunities to earn foreign exchange for agriculture because we are looking at also from processing being able to export, but more than that, it will also create job opportunities.”
Though the pilot project focuses on utilising the corn for livestock feed, Manager of Science, Technology and Innovation at the Caribbean Agricultural Research and Development Institute (CARDI), Fayaz Shah, explained that it can also be used for human consumption.
“So it will go from the fresh stage that we are accustomed to buying fresh corn in Trinidad, and then we would leave it on the trees, allow it to dry, and roughly in six to eight weeks we will be ready to harvest the grains that would then be dried and used for animal feed or even for cornflour.”
Minister in the Office of the Prime Minister Darrell Allahar commended the initiative, noting that it will inspire young people with an interest in agriculture.
“You have a lot of youth who are interested in agriculture, hydroponics and all these new things are coming on stream now.”
Similar sentiments were echoed by Member of Parliament for Caroni East, Dr. Rishad Seecharan, who said it will benefit farmers of his constituency.
“They are looking for new cash crops, and this, of course, will aid in employment in Caroni East as well.”
The Pilot Programme for Soybean, Corn, and Blackeye Beans Production is located at the Southern Main Road, Caroni, and forms part of a shift toward a production-based agricultural approach.