Agriculture knocks PM

THE Prime Minister’s statement that agriculture will never be commercially viable because TT does not have land space to be a major global agricultural player, was condemned by key agriculture stakeholders and former food production minister Devant Maharaj.

Dr Rowley made this comment at the launch of the $87 million Alutech Research and Development Facility at the Tamana InTech Park, Wallerfield on Wednesday.

Agricultural Society president Dhano Sookoo declared, “That is the most duncey, outrageous statement I have ever heard a prime minister make.”

She claimed Rowley was continuing the same approach as when he was agriculture minister. Sookoo also said Rowley’s statement reflected the position taken by many past governments, to give lip service to agriculture Sookoo said the $0.78 billion allocated in the budget to agriculture was just enough to handle recurrent expenditure.

TT has thousands of acres of arable land, she said, but much of this acreage is not properly managed. Sookoo said only under the former Patrick Manning administration and former agriculture minister Arnold Piggott were there any meaningful initiatives to improve agriculture.

Beekeepers Association president Chunilal Roopnarine agreed with Sookoo about agricultural acreage not being properly used. He said while Rowley was right that TT cannot compete with agriculture on a large scale, the country can produce enough food to feed itself and reduce the food import bill.

Roopnarine said several acres of Caroni land were distributed for agricultural use.

In the case of beekeepers, Roopnarine said there are lots of forested areas they could use but are unable to do so.

Cabinet agreed in 1987 to allocate fresh land to beekeepers, he said, but this has not happened to date.

Roopnarine shared Sookoo’s view about not enough being done to properly market cocoa, hot peppers and other potential agriculture revenue earners.

Sheep and Goat Farmers Association president Shiraz Khan said Rowley sang a different tune whene he was opposition leader. Khan said Manning was criticised by Kamla Persad-Bissessar when he arranged for land to be leased in Guyana to grow citrus. He said Rowley criticised Persad-Bissessar when Maharaj arranged for local rice producers to plant rice on land in Guyana.

Maharaj said under Persad-Bissessar’s administration an agricultural renaissance was happening, and Rowley should explain how Caribbean countries smaller than TT are able to earn significant income by supplying agricultural produce to TT.

At a UWI post-budget forum in St Augustine on Thursday, economics lecturer Dr Marlene Attzs said the budget did not seem to have a clear plan for agriculture. Referring to questions from the audience, Attzs said there are young people who are actively involved in the agricultural sector and more needs to be done to help them.

Economics lecturer Dr Regan Deonanan said there needed to be a sociological change in the way in which agriculture is looked at.