$51m more for agriculture than last year

The agriculture sector has been allocated $1.249 billion, an increase of $51 million compared to last year’s allocation.

Finance Minister Colm Imbert made the announcement when he presented the 2022 budget in Parliament on Monday.

He also intends to allocate $300 million, in the first instance, to the agriculture stimulus package fund for fiscal 2022.

The Finance Ministry established a substantial agriculture stimulus fund for use by the Ministry of Agriculture. It is for the expansion of production and marketing of selected high-demand commodities with short production cycles, such as vegetables, legumes and small livestock.

"The funding is intended to support securing of adequate quality seeds, the use of alternative feedstock and the regularisation of land issues to accelerate land tenure and to access to idle state lands," Imbert said.

He said this fund is in addition to the "normal budgetary allocations" to the agriculture sector. It represents a substantial increase over the normal year’s allocation for agriculture.

The Agriculture, Land and Fisheries Ministry, he said, has advised that over the last year, it has worked assiduously to design and plan a series of agriculture projects and programmes to access the stimulus package. Several of these projects are ready to start.

Imbert referred to its proposed solutions as game-changing and pragmatic. They are aligned to the UN sustainable development goals.

Imbert said agriculture is the basic source of food supply in the country, adding that the Government has made agriculture a tax-free industry in all its facets.

Imbert said farmers would be able to invest their time, energy and finances in the sector's development, making it (sector) more attractive for young entrepreneurs.

Last year, the Government allocated $1.198 billion to the agriculture sector. The ministry also benefited from a $500 million stimulus package geared at developing the industry.

On Monday, Imbert said the food and nutrition security are progressing through several "well-conceptualised" initiatives.

"Local production of nutritious food to reduce dependence on imported food and inputs are being increasingly supported," Imbert said. "A more technologically advance agricultural system is being built including digital transformation, improving productivity, expanding cold-storage facilities to reduce losses and in the process increasing the availability of the domestic food supply."

The linkages and food value and distribution chains are being strengthened to make more locally produced food available, particularly in the school feeding programme and social welfare network.

"The national marketing infrastructure is being supported to facilitate linking farmers to markets. Food boxes are being packaged and distributed to vulnerable families, complemented with social support programmes where families continue to receive food cards."

He charged that all 41 MPs know that the packaging and distribution of food boxes to vulnerable families significantly affected their constituencies between May and September.

"That is 185,000 food packages in five months. Our initial target for the five-month period was 125,000 at the cost of $62 million. Apart from the MPs, councillors and assemblymen, we also distributed extra produced packages to NGOs," Imbert said.

These included PanTrinbago, the National Carnival Bands Association, Coterie of Social Workers, Blind Welfare Association, TT Yacht Club, police youth clubs, Trinbago Unified Calypsonians Organisation, Students Guild at UWI, faith-based organisations and "individuals who reached out for help."

On infrastructure, Imbert said an access road repair programme is expected to start in 2022. It covers 80 kilometres and provides relief for over 400 farmers at the cost of $75 million.

The areas included Matelot, Toco, Manzanilla, Sangre Grande, Talparo, Walllerfield, Maracas, St Joseph, Tunapuna, Orange Grove, Brasso Seco, Paria, Blanchisseuse, Lopinot and Paramin.

Imbert said in the Plum Mitan area, $11 million is committed for the replacement in 2022 of the decades-old pumps as well as access-road repair, and these initiatives are now being fully implemented.

"More than $200 million in private-sector investments are being made in livestock production, poultry production, including duck farming and processing, and rabbit rearing and processing, hatcheries, greenhouses, agro-processing, seafood processing and agro-processing for export market," Imbert said.

Aripo Livestock Ltd has already invested $22 million in the public-private partnership livestock project in Aripo. It is expected to invest another $20 million.

The Nutrimix group has completed the modern hatchery facility in Couva at the cost of over $60 million, the Finance minister said.

Central Farms Ltd, which produces a million pounds of duck meat annually, is expanding and is expected to make a further $10 million investment in 2022 to expand capacity.

The National Agricultural Marketing and Development Corporation has settled on a partner for the incomplete packing house in Couva. That partner would make $1 million in the next year, Imbert said.

"Novo has just launched its $60 million agro-processing facility in Couva and in the next 18 months would make an additional $5-$10 million investment in the local agriculture sector.

"PriceSmart’s investment in a modern produce-distribution centre in the new Phoenix Park Industrial Estate will be several million dollars of investment in the next year."

The rice parboiling plant, a $15 million investment by Trinidad Parboil Ltd in Couva, is expected to begin construction in early 2022.

Sprouts Farms is expected to begin constructing its $6 million modern greenhouse facility in St Joseph before the end of 2021.

Imbert said, "At least one investor is currently sourcing equipment to outfit one of the units at the Moruga Agro-Processing and Light Industrial Park. That investment will be $3-$5 million over the next 18 months."

On rising food prices, Imbert said the Government is aware that prices have increased significantly amid the global shortages in supply chain disruptions, including increased cost of transport and freight.

"In most cases, we expect that food prices will subside to pre-pandemic ranges in 2022 once the transitory disturbances work their way through food prices," Imbert said.

Imbert said Minister of Agriculture, Land and Fisheries Clarence Rambharat would expand on these and other initiatives during the budget debate.