Is food security not important to us?

The Editor: Government’s decision to build houses on the most fertile land in Trinidad, in St Joseph, is yet another example of our collective short-sightedness. We are again fooling ourselves into believing that we do not need to produce our own food once we have a supply of oil and gas. The bulldozing of crops and carting away of topsoil as “overburden” sends a clear signal that food security is of little importance here. Housing Minister Martin Joseph, Agricultural Minister John Rahael, Prime Minister Patrick Manning and others would probably be still alive to hear the curses of future hungry generations who would have not benefitted from the gas boom; who would have empty bellies and equally empty pockets; unable to buy costly imported food and unable to plant even a kitchen garden as all the fertile soil was carted off or locked away forever, beneath concrete and asphalt. If this folly is indeed part of the much touted Vision 2020, then the entire cabinet should book sessions at the optician. It is not too late to rethink this stupid move.

Mc Donald James
Couva