Rambharat disappointed: Too much imported food at functions

Agriculture Minister Clarence Rambharat says he continues to be disappointed that locally-produced foods are still not the first choice at major functions. He told guests at the Supermarket Association’s Christmas and year end dinner, at the Centre of Excellence on Saturday, that he attended “a significant dinner” a week before and the servings were all imported.

He said he was unhappy from the first course.

“And everything thereafter made me more unhappy,” Rambharat said.

“I continue to feel disappointed that in this country we still cannot serve what we produce at our events.

“I hope that as we go into 2018, we would make a serious and significant attempt to support our local farmers and local food producers by eating what we produce in this country.

I would like to see more local produce on sale and available in the supermarkets and on our plates.”

In terms of food safety, he said earlier this year the association was challenged through the temporary ban on the importation of corned beef.

He said were it not for the personal relationships he and Trade Minister Paula Gopee-Scoon enjoy with the association, Government would not have been able to effect the ban, the recall of the items and the lifting the ban to minimise the damage to the trade and the reputation of the country.

The year 2017, he said, has been a good one for Government and the association.

Meanwhile, president of the association Dr Yunus Ibrahim said supermarkets continue to face challenges obtaining the US currency.

However it was necessary, he said, to build resilience in the land and make it “fat and fertile again instead of pursuing the US dollar.”

By no means, he said, “am I saying that we must stop buying foreign, because it is a necessity in our day and age.”

However, food security is a right of every citizen, he said, “and it must be our collective goal.”

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