Need to boost argriculture

According to the Trinidad and Tobago Manufacturers’ Association (TTMA), the ministry has failed to comply with the 2003 International Plant Protection Convention, and this may well block Trinidad and Tobago’s exports to developed nations.

The TTMA also claims that this lack of compliance could threaten the job security of 60,000 persons.

This is almost certainly hyperbole, but it is true that successive governments have not paid sufficient attention to the agricultural sector. That sidelining has, by extension, underdeveloped the manufacturing base of the country, leaving us still over-dependent on oil and gas revenues.

What makes the Agriculture Ministry’s tardiness especially egregious is that the world market for agricultural products already has enough obstacles, without the Government creating additional problems. The developed countries promote unfair trade practices which make it that more difficult for less developed countries to compete on a level playing field. Farmers in rich nations, for example, get over US $11 billion in subsidies annually, which is more than the GDP of sub-saharan Africa. This huge subsidy allows these farmers to sell their produce at below market price.

Thus, the United States and the European Union produce about half the world’s wheat, but sell it for 50 percent below the costs of production.

Additionally, the tariff rates of the rich nation disadvantage poorer ones. The average tariff rates in a developed nation is three percent, yet when it comes to agricultural products from less developed nations, that tariff rate goes up to a whopping 14 percent.

This significantly retards the earnings of many developing nations, which have a comparative advantage in agricultural products. Indeed, a 2002 World Bank Report on Global Economic Prospects calculated that, if the rich countries removed their tariff barriers and subsidies, developing nations would see a $390 billion annual rise in incomes from agriculture alone.

Moreover, such liberalisation would particularly benefit unskilled and rural labour in the developing nations.

None of this means that governments in developing countries should bypass agriculture. It just means that the developmental challenge is that more complex, in that the government must keep lobbying international bodies such as the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to implement fair trading rules. Even in an unfair system, however, it still benefits the disadvantaged country to continue trading. But, in respect to agriculture, this means that the Government must meet its local responsibilities — creating proper infrastructure such as access roads, electricity, and water supplies. In our country, flood prevention is also a crucial part of providing food security. There is also the issue of how the Government handles the legal issues of land leasing and ownership.

Prime Minister Patrick Manning last week predicted that the lands of the now-defunct Caroni (1975) Limited, which are being distributed to former workers and those interested in farming, would make Trinidad the "food basket of the Caribbean". This is entirely possible, but much depends on the Government allowing the farmers to decide the best ways to utilise the land they are leasing. Additionally, attention must be given to the manufacture of these agricultural products, since selling primary commodities will do little to increase the country’s exports. For all this to happen, though, the Agriculture Ministry must become more efficient and more proactive than it has traditionally been.