Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago have discussed the possibility of Guyana shipping and selling livestock on the Trinidad and Tobago market says the twin island’s Agriculture Minister Clarence Rambharat.
“We discussed the possibility of live animals being put on the market in Trinidad,” Rambharat told Stabroek News during an interview yesterday at State House, Georgetown.
Rambharat was a member of Trinidad and Tobago’s Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley’s delegation that paid a visit to Guyana to sign an energy sector cooperation memorandum of understanding between Guyana and T&T. President David Granger and Rowley signed the agreement.
Prior to the signing of the MOU, Rowley and his delegation held a meeting with Granger and his delegation on a number of issues including agriculture.
It was at that meeting Rambharat said, they also discussed the issue of land, possibly using land or encouraging Trinidadian investors to use land for the cultivation of the products that would go into animal feed.
This would include products like soy and corn which they have been discussing for some time.
However, he said, “We are challenged by the fact that the people who consumed the most amount of feed in Trinidad and Tobago and in Guyana have long-term supply contracts out of the United States of America.”
The price is in the USA, he said, is fixed, is reliable and businesses have been engaged in this for a long time.
“We would have to see how competitive, we could be in that area,” he said.
Rambharat said, they also discussed other things like, Guyana’s expertise in water resource management on farmlands and the infrastructure Guyana would have developed over a long time.
“In Trinidad we have issues with flooding. Every time we have excessive rainfall our farmers are badly affected. The country is badly affected. We think that is an area where your engineering expertise could be put to use,” he said.
“We talked about technology in agriculture. Both Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago believe that it is an area we could infuse a greater amount of technology, particularly as it relates to climate smart agriculture and protected farming and those areas.”
