Kamla: UNC will make agriculture an economic driver

OPPOSITION Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar says she disagrees with the Prime Minister that agriculture could never be as commercially viable as oil, and if returned to power, her UNC government will make it a driver of economic diversification.

“We will give agriculture the budget it requires to help in our country’s economic diversification,” she declared.

She was responding on Friday to the 2018/2019 budget and speaking about the UNC’s National Economy Recovery and Diversification Plan.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Land and Fisheries has received $38 million in this year’s budget.

Persad-Bissessar said: “It has been reported the Honourable Prime Minister said we don’t have land. And I think that is a very sad thing, because we have such rich resources in the land.”

She said agriculture was singled out because of its potential contribution to the nation’s food-security needs, foreign-exchange generation, deepening of sectoral linkages, management of the environment and fight against climate change.

She explained for agriculture to grow and thrive in TT it must become globally competitive with a shift from primary commodities to higher value-added products and focus on products with a distinct comparative advantage. She said it was possible for TT to capture a larger share of the global agriculture trade market and boost the sector’s contribution to GDP.

“While I agree tourism could be a diversification strategy...do we have a comparative advantage in that? No. All the islands in the Caribbean, what do we have? Sun, sea and sand. And some of the islands have better sun, sea and sand, beaches and so forth.”

She said her government would also revitalise traditional agricultural industries such as sugar cane, cocoa, coffee and rice, but using an agricultural co-operative model, in which both state and farmers are owners of the agri-business.

Other focus areas in the economy recovery plan included the digital economy, blue economy (seafood), green economy and renewable energy.