Fifteen potential large-scale agriculture investors from Trinidad and Tobago scouted possible sites in the Canje Basin on Thursday as part of a year-old Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Guyana but deals are not likely anytime soon.
Trinidad’s Minister of Food Production Devant Maharaj told Stabroek News yesterday that the process which has been ongoing since 2013, has taken some time, but that the MOU was practical mainly because large-scale farming was no longer an option in Trinidad. He said that in Trinidad land was available but large scale farming required 500 to 1,000 acres of contiguous lands, which Trinidad simply did not have.
At a press briefing held at the Ministry of Agriculture yesterday, Maharaj and Guyana’s Minister of Agriculture Dr Leslie Ramsammy revealed that 15 potential investors had toured available land in the Canje Basin that could be utilised for large-scale farming.
Maharaj stated there were bureaucratic concerns with the MOU and this was the reality in undertakings of this type.