(Trinidad Guardian) The Ministry of Food Production, Land and Marine Affairs is hoping to lower the country’s food import bill to TT$2 billion by 2015. So said its minister Vasant Bharath at the launch of the National Food Production Action Plan 2012-2015 yesterday at Tucker Valley farm, Chaguaramas. Bharath said the document will hold government accountable to the population. “It is on this basis you will tell us if we have been successful or not,” he said. He said for the period 2006 to 2009 the country imported TT$2.4 billion annually in staples. He said it was roughly TT$700 million annually for corn, wheat, soya and rice.
The 22-page action plan stated that rice production was at 2,273 tonnes and its target was 7,500 tonnes by 2015. The target for cassava production in 2015 was 18,182 tonnes, an increase from 5,454 tonnes and dasheen, from 909 tonnes in 2012 to 1,818 tonnes in 2015. The plan was developed in consultation with relevant stakeholders and outlined the strategic goals of the ministry to create a food-secure nation with focus on specific commodities. Bharath said: “There is a world-wide growing concern for the agriculture sector.
There is a world-wide growing concern to be able to produce food for each nation. “There is a world-wide growing concern that we may have money in our pockets, but not be in a position to purchase food.”
He said T&T had almost all the resources to produce the food it needed because of the ideal climate and arable lands.
Speaking with reporters after the launch, Bharath said government was seeking to reduce its importation bill by 25 per cent to 100 per cent over the next five years across all commodities listed in the plan.
T&T’s fruit import bill for the last five years was almost TT$300 million. The minister said the local citrus industry will be resuscitated.
