Agriculture stagnant

This was how president of the Agriculture Society of Trinidad and Tobago (ASTT ) Dhano Sookoo described the operations of the sector during the past year.

And she is hoping that measures to reinvigorate the sector will be announced in Friday’s Budget presentation — the second of the Dr Keith Rowley-led People’s National Movement (PNM) Government.

With a reputation for receiving the least allocation in all of the sectors in fiscal packages over the years, the Ministry of Agriculture received an allocation of $831 million in last year’s presentation, which was subsequently increased to around $1.2 billion.

It has long been identified as one of the pillars for economic diversification — a thrust which has taken greater prominence within recent months as the country grapples with the effects of the global economic downturn.

In a Sunday Newsday interview, Sookoo painted a dour picture of the sector, noting that despite best efforts, the country was still experiencing a high food import bill (close to $6 billion).

She also claimed farmers were becoming increasingly despondent and selling out their farm lands for housing.

“Farmers are being driven out of the market because they cannot compete with the imports,” she said, adding there has not been any “strong policy” with respect to import substitution and driving the export sector.

“The Minister (Clarence Rambharat) has talked about restructuring the ministry and we applaud that effort but there has been no straight policy direction for the sector. What is the focus of the ministry?” Sookoo asked.

Sookoo hoped incentives for farmers would receive some attention in the Budget since the long-standing issues of land tenancy and access roads were still to be addressed. She also wondered about the contribution of State-appointed boards such as the National Agricultural Marketing Development Corporation and the Estate Management and Development Company in enhancing the sector, claiming politics was stifling the work of the agencies.

“Allow them to operate within their framework so that they can do their job,” she said.

Outspoken president of the Farmers Union Shiraz Khan lamented the sector remained the bastard child of the economy.

“With all the talk about diversification, importation of vegetables and meats are on the increase.

While there has been a major increase in the food import bill from 2010 to 2015, when we thought it would have declined, it has continued to increase,” he said.

Khan observed farmers were finding it extremely difficult to survive in the economic downturn.

“We continue to see a number of things happening to make farmers uncomfortable,” he said, adding that poor access roads and land tenure remained the bugbear of the sector. Khan said the Praedial Larceny Squad needed to be strengthened.

“The contracts of the squad will be up shortly and there is need for more resources to make them more viable,” he said.

Khan said although Rambharat had the interests of the sector at heart, bureaucracy was hampering progress.