Moruga rice time now

NOW is the time for Moruga Hill rice to make its mark. Trade and Industry Minister Paula Gopee-Scoon and Agriculture Minister Clarence Rambharat expressed this view at a grant-funding ceremony in Moruga on Tuesday.

At the ceremony, Gopee-Scoon presented Caribbean Sea and Air Marketing (producers of Moruga Hill Rice) with $317,500 in grant funding from the Trade and Industry Ministry’s Research and Development Facility (RDF).

“We want to see this product all over TT and externally as well,” she told the gathering.

Company CEO Mark Forgenie said TT was the only country in the world producing hill rice and Moruga is the only place in the country where the product is grown.

Gopee-Scoon also said discussions would be held with Caribbean Sea and Air Marketing about accessing funding from the Grant Fund facility as well. She said hill rice had marketability, likeability and health benefits.

Gopee-Scoon said this was in keeping with Government’s efforts to diversify the economy and foster the growth of small and micro enterprises, which are important to TT’s economic diversification.

Rambharat agreed. He told Forgenie, “You have an outstanding product that fits a niche market in the country and around the world. You have people who are prepared to pay the price to get a superior product.”

Saying his family grew up in Moruga, Rambharat said, “We have consumed this (hill rice) for a very long time. This hill rice makes you strong, resilient and built to last into the long term.”