Missing sweet deals

With TT’s export agricultural GDP on the slide, fruit exporter Dhanoo Sookoo is doing her best to give it a boost.

Sookoo, owner of a packing house in Sangre Chiquito, has been exporting fresh fruits and vegetables to Barbados and the United States (US) for the last three years. She started her own business after cleaning and packing fresh fruits and vegetables for other exporters for about ten years. Now, she exports about 50,000 to 60,000 pounds of fruits and 60,000 pounds of vegetables per month. On the list are cabbage, pumpkin, water melon, portugal, paw paw, among others. For Agriculture Minister John Rahael that is good news. He noted recently that TT’s food import bill increased by 66 percent over the last 10 years, from TT$0.9 billion in 1991 to TT $1.5 billion. Export agricultural GDP also decreased from TT$24 million in 1991 to TT $21 million in 2001. “We must ensure that a greater level of investment must be made in the agricultural sector,” he said. He acknowledges that for the sector to grow, the private sector ought to be encouraged in future agricultural diversification ventures.

According to Agrinet, a publication of the Agriculture ministry, for more than 20 years TT’s agriculture sector has been experiencing low production and productivity. The sector is currently realising only a fraction of its real productive potential. Statistics show that the agriculture sector employs less than 10 percent of the labour force while its contribution to GDP is less than three percent. “The current state of our agriculture has been attributed to a number of factors including the impact of the petroleum “boom” during the 1970s and early 1980s; the poor returns on investments in agriculture; the breakdown of preferential marketing arrangements for our traditional export crops and the impact of trade policies administered by the World Trade Organisation (WTO),” explained Rahael. Additionally, he said Government’s focus on agricultural policies in the past has largely been towards the production of the traditional crops for export such as sugar, coffee and cocoa.

Rahael noted that this policy direction has partly contributed to TT being a net food importer, since the country has consistently failed to address the production of those commodities that would satisfy the domestic requirements. “Being a food deficit country will certainly have tremendous implications for our food security.” However, he noted that even with available funds for food importation, TT has to be aware of the potential disasters. But Sookoo, along with several of those in the industry wished that government played a more active role in the fruit export business. National Agricultural, Marketing and Development Corporation (NAMDEVCO), corporate manager, Ganesh Gangapersad, agrees. He believes that the export of fresh fruits and vegetables can be a very viable and lucrative industry in TT. There are, he says, untapped foreign markets and foreign exchange to be earned. NAMDEVCO facilitates the export of fresh agricultural produce, management of trade protocols and works with stakeholders and Government in expanding trade.

Sookoo says while her business has been a resounding success, “we still need some assistance from Government and the relevant authorities to help us take TT products to the world.” The fruits and vegetables are bought from farmers throughout the country. Carl Chang, another owner of a packging house, who has been exporting fresh fruits and vegetables to Barbados for the past four years, about one 20- foot container per month, buys his produce from farmers. His problem, he says, is accessing “top quality products” from the approved farmers at competitive prices. “Most times you may not get a farmer to stick to his price when delivery is made.” To boost the industry, NAMDEVCO plans to set up a modern packing house in TT with HACCP (Hazard Analysis of Critical Control Points) accreditation,  a preventative control to guarantee food safety.  TT, Gangapersad said, has always exported fresh fruits and vegetables to countries in the Caribbean, noting that exporting to Barbados was stopped for sometime but was resumed in 1998 with the adoption of a protocol for trade. Exports are made on a regular basis to Miami, New York, Montreal, Toronto, the United Kingdom (UK), and on a conditional basis to St Lucia. Negotiations are also taking place to export to Grenada, Antigua, Barbuda and Dominica. However, Gangapersad stressed that before TT can penetrate any new markets, a number of problems which exporters face on a daily basis have to be addressed. He said exporters are constantly burdened with the unavailability of freight at reasonable rates; export financing for exports of fresh produce; refrigerated storage at the airport and the unreliability of local produce.

In addition, government needs to address the issue of crop insurance; adequate infrastructure; negotiate for competitive air freight; establish a green box fund to assist exporters and promote and support agricultural investment. “These are some of the issues that need to be addressed if the industry is to be taken to a higher level,” he said. Sookoo stresses that the success of her business depends on constant dialogue between the TT Government and other countries in the region. She also believes that something has to be done by government to address the shortage of packaging materials in TT, stressing that farmers must be educated on what crops can be produced for exports. Farmers feel “left out” by government, she says. Farmers are constantly faced with rising fertiliser costs, which means the cost for fruits goes up. And because there are not enough markets guaranteed for exports, farmers are not willing to produce crops on a large scale. Sookoo said the government needs to speed up the negotiating process to openi up new markets for exporters, both regionally and internationally. She also called on Rahael to implement the necessary measures to ensure that exporters are paid for goods that they have exported. As an incentive, government, she believes, should subsidise agriculture in TT. Sookoo said the Agricultural Development Bank (ABD) should get its act together to assist farmers. While many local businesses have trade missions to different countries, agriculture is never represented, she said. “We should be allowed to be part of those trade missions since we have something to offer as well.” Sookoo said agriculture can reduce the unemployment rate in TT, but only  it is viewed as a profession. Chang, too, is of the view that while there will always be a demand for produce from TT, local exporters can only do so much.