Agriculture and fisheries are critical to economic recovery but firm policy positions are needed to foster production and build comparative advantage in value addition as well as regain trust and goodwill among the stakeholders of the sector in Trinidad and Tobago.
Giving respect for the circumstances of rural and coastal communities and targeting limited resources in an optimal manner must be seen as reciprocal in the struggle for food and nutrition security.
In T&T, policymakers must do more to preserve food and nutrition security at the household level, protect and strengthen those who feed the nation and act aggressively to stabilise sentiment and build consensus on the way forward.
We must be mindful that developmental issues continue to be a challenge for the local food production sector as the integrity and sustainability of the Gulf fishery continues to linger in the minds of consumers and food production otherwise continues to be a risky and costly gamble for farmers. Our call on the sector to diversify is simply rhetoric.
The allocation to the Ministry of Agriculture, Land and Fisheries for 2015/2016 was approximately TT$ 1.2b. The Development Programme for the sector benefited from approximately TT$ 156m of which TT$ 25m was allocated to the Carenage Fishing Complex and the Moruga Fishing Port. With the already limited fiscal space for development purposes; all hands must be on deck especially from persons paid by the State to support the growth and development of the sector.
T&T food import of TT$ 5.5b and is expected to rise given the exchange rate pressure. The capacity to maintain our affinity for imported food is evaporating. Our position and dependency on food imports must be understood within a global value chain where China has set out to invest US$ 450b towards modernising its agriculture industry by 2020. The Chinese investment is to protect national food security, support the sector doing business overseas and develop China’s seed industry.
According to UN Comtrade Statistics, China is the second largest import market for T&T at an estimated value of US$ 482m in 2015 or 7.5 per cent of our total imports. Our main import market is the US at an estimated value of US$ 2.5b or 38.9 per cent of total imports. The FATCA legislation issues will also heap distress on our food and agricultural input supplies if not addressed.
With the understanding that the sector can only move forward through open consultation, collaboration and coordination, the Tableland Pineapple Farmers Association (TPFA) and the Felicity Charlieville Fishing Association (FCFA) came to several agreements including:
In the short-run as net real disposable income falls, policymakers and administrators need to ensure that the social safety nets are responsive, that persons of differing socio-economic circumstances do not fall below the minimum living standard and that any such measure is not abused. More must be done to educate people on the ground of the implications we face because of the economics of the day and not engage in fear-mongering. Grassroots people need to know how energy prices, international credit ratings and the macro-economic factors prevailing will impact their livelihoods, purchasing power, capacity to survive among competing interests in an import-dependent nation with an economy anchored on the rents of a declining energy sector.
Incentivize and encourage the use of greater local content in the food and beverage industry or move to curtail the importation of food that directly competes with local produce and products. T&T already celebrates 100 days of Christmas which means that we spend almost 30 per cent of the year doing so. The recent response to a question in the Parliament by the Minister of Agriculture, Land and Fisheries Clarence Rambharat that T&T imported TT$3.3 billion in food over a 6-month period of which TT$100 million was whisky came as no surprise to farmers, fishers and niche market producers as they have taken ownership and responsibility for addressing the issue for some time.
There is a notable spike in the consumption of imported food and beverages during this time hence the reason for our advocacy of an Eat Local Day’ concept to be a national focus as in the USA and St Kitts and Nevis, for example. Considerable effort must be put towards instilling food sovereignty in public policy.
2016 Caribbean Communication Network