A fair measure of evidence is emerging that oil-rich Trinidad and Tobago is beginning to assume a position of prominence in the region in seeking to respond to what politicians and experts alike now agreed is a need for a collective focus on food security.
Having visited Guyana late last year at the head of a delegation seeking to finalise plans for Trinidad and Tobago investments in mega-farms here, much of the produce of which will then be shipped to the twin-island republic, Food Production Minister Devant Maraj announced in Port of Spain a few days ago that the country was in the process of exporting a shipment of food to neighbouring Barbados.
The significance of the announcement reposed in the fact that it highlighted what is seen as a deepening interest on the part of Trinidad and Tobago in helping to reduce Caricom’s extra-regional food bill while responding to the need to revive the agricultural sector in the oil-rich country.
Up to late last week there was still no word from either Port of Spain or Georgetown regarding progress in putting together the promised Memorandum of Understanding that will give direction to the collaborative initiative to boost food production. In broad terms, however, the plan envisages the marrying of financial investments from Trinidad and Tobago with land and technical knowhow from Guyana, to create mega-farms which will focus on the production of various types of fruit and vegetables commonly grown in Guyana. The likelihood that these large-scale farming initiatives could also lead to the establishment of supporting agro-processing facilities has also been mooted.
Last week Maraj was also quoted as saying that in the future the country intended to increase the volume of its agricultural exports to the rest of the Caribbean. In pursuit of this objective Trinidad and Tobago is reportedly investing some TT$40 million in five packaging plants which would absorb locally produced foods and provide the logistical and administrative machinery for facilitating intra-regional exports. Trinidad and Tobago is also reportedly focusing on the rehabilitation of a number of fish markets, which Maraj reportedly conceded had been allowed to fall into disrepair.
