Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Speaker A: The best insight, instant feedback, accountability. The all new Talk Radio Freedom 106.5.
[00:00:08] Speaker B: We talked so much this morning and in previous weeks and months leading up to the election coming out of the Abbas administration, the economy diversification, the fact that we are putting all our eggs in one basket, not just for the Dragon Gas, but on the industrial side of things. Let's talk agriculture.
What is happening on the, on the agricultural front with us at this time.
[00:00:30] Speaker A: Okay, so good. Thanks again for the opportunity to chat. I'll make my points really clear and concise. All right, so let me just give you a few metrics first. I'm guessing so population, Trinidad, 1.51 million. Current food import bill 7.3 billion TT dollars. Agricultural GDP less than 2%. Employment in agriculture around 3%. That was a 2023 start.
Registered farmers, we have about 35,000 registered and the annual budget, the last year figure was 1.442 billion TT.
Right. So the reason why I give that, that type of stats is to try to make sense out of what we have, where we are and where we need to be. Right. We have a couple issues in agriculture, not any last two years, five years, 10 years, a couple decades old that still have not been totally addressed. And with your permission, let me just, just name a few and explain a few and maybe just, you know, create some solutions for the upcoming Minister of Agriculture for the next 10 years. Yeah.
So in terms of Trinidad and Tobago agricultural sector, we do face several challenges as you just mentioned, included a decline in contribution to the economy, heavy reliance on imports, and also issues with climate change and pest infestations. So our domestic production is limited really by factors like land space, some very minor natural disasters, but more so climate change. And we are hoping now that this new government is working to diversify the economy and reduce the reliance on the oil and gas sector. Because I was just listening to your convo with some of the callers and I know the significance of oil and gas for Trinidad and Tobago. So let's address, let's say point one. So a decline in contribution to GDP. Why? Why? Less than 2%. So the agricultural sector's share of GDP has significantly decreased over the years. I'm not sure if you can remember, not sure your age. Which industry in agriculture here do we have? Booming. Where is our sugarcane industry? Where is our coconut industry? Where is our citrus industry? And so many other industries. Right. We rely really heavy on imports. Right. So the gdp, it has decreased over the years and it's really indicating a shift away from agriculture. And towards the oil and gas industries. Now here's what this is not a diversification strategy. And it's really clearly seen every time we have an annual budget allocation. That is why I gave those tasks. You have 1.5 million people, 1.4 billion budget and your food import bill is 7 plus billion TT dollars. That is 0.1 second. This will blow you up. Everybody know we have a high dependence on food imports. Now Trinidad and Tobago imports a really large amount of its food supply making it very vulnerable as we see in the past Covid in global supply chain issues and price fluctuations. Guess what? We import all our cereals, grapes, apples, pears, which are known as luxury items, Sugars, sugar, confectionary, animal and vegetable fats and oils, sorry, dairy products like cheese and milk, meats and seafood, alcoholic and even non alcoholic beverages. All of those things we import. That is why our food import bill is so very high.
If we want to jump on now to understanding what is going on with the environment and climate change or the impacts the climate change related issues like droughts and floods and changes in temperature and even precipitation patterns will disrupt our crop cycles and reduce yields, impact livestock production, livestock rearing and it really will affect food production and nutrition security as well as our livelihoods.
Something I really want to touch on. This is a big one, illegal importation of livestock. Now I know people come in the country, no problem. I understand human rights issues and these things, but here's what livestock is a different story.
So the illegal importation of livestock in Trinidad and Tobago really refers to the smuggling of usually domesticated livestock or animals that you want to consume into our country without the required permit, right, inspections. And it really does pose a significant threat to public health, the environment and our local livestock sector. If you want to jump now to pest and disease outbreak, sorry, took a sip there. Everybody in Trinidad, no, we have that giant African snail and is a major, major pest. You have other pests and other diseases, some of which you have the tomato leaf miner, the red palm weevil, little yellow coconuts, frosty pod, rot of cocoa. All of these are our productivity, right? And our food security. If you look at land tennis scarcity, this one always comes up. This is like I am 34 years old and this, since I know myself, this is an issue. The availability of arable land is a constraint in agricultural production currently and as soon as land is not available, arable land, agricultural land is also being used for industrial and residential purposes. That is true. You could see it in all America areas. Conversions of these Lands and also the process to get agricultural land on your name from a past relative takes months to even years. How could we secure our country if the simple pay power process takes so long? Look at pretty elastiny. Theft of agricultural produce is also another factor that limits the sector's development. Agriculture is really a high risk sector. And imagine we don't have any agricultural insurance to secure our assets. Look at the lack of infrastructure and technology. All them currently plots all over the place, right? Do they have proper road access? Do they have irrigation? Do they have storage facilities? Do they have access to power? Right? So all of these things will affect our agricultural productivity. Imagine, even policy support.
Many, many, many farmers express concerns about the lack of support, right, from the public sector and government. Now it's not really to blame any one individual, one party or one ministry, you know, because here's what money tight, right? They also complain about the inadequate extension services and the limited access to credit and subsidies because those facilities are only for registered farmers. Now I must say, I must declare that there are many dedicated public servants at the Ministry of Agriculture, Land and Fisheries, but they are starved of resources to execute their job properly, right? Many good technical professionals. Many, many, right? And also the shift in focus to other sectors. Many individuals, particularly in the younger generation, are less inclined to really pursue farming careers because of the economic hardships and all of these other risk attached in the agri sector, you know, so these are just a drop in the bucket of some of the current issues we face. I know that was a mouthful.
[00:07:48] Speaker B: No, well, it was and I thank you for it. I mean coming here well prepared with these stats and figures. Now we have 35,000 farmers available. But then one person might think, you know, how long does it take to put for, for crops to grow?
And while the cow, while the grass growing, the cow starving because the grass growing, it ain't growing fast enough because of the consumption. Now we have, we talked about the, the 1.4, 1.5, 1.52 something billion persons currently in Trinidad and Tobago by birth and by boot. And we talk about the 7.3 billion in allocations with less than 2% being allocated out. Now let's get down to the $1.442 billion allocations per year in agriculture.
[00:08:39] Speaker A: Yes, so what? So it's actually a few factors contribute to this budgetary allocation. Agriculture always gets a very small portion of our annual budget. What one chapters. It could clearly be seen how could our priority as humans and as citizens of our country allocate such a small budget if you want to talk about food security, nutrition security, health, development, right? The basics of life. You must have food, water and shelter, right? Clothing and stuff will fall in there as well, right? So imagine something so simple we don't really want to invest in. So imagine you have the 1.5 million people, you have a 1.4 billion budget and your food import bill is 7.3 billion a year, right? And the 35000 farmers were just the registered farmers. There are many, many, many, many, many more farmers in Trinidad and Tobago. They just aren't registered because they don't have proper Land Initiative documents. So they do have some document because some office holding them back, right? And because of that they can't get a farmer's car, the farmer's badge. They can't get access to incentives and subsidies. So there are many flaws in the system that we need to fix the change. Now we're not asking the new administration to come in and fix everything. That is almost impossible. It is unrealistic. Just some of the issues that I mentioned. Let's tackle just a few achievable items that we could achieve in the tenure period and let's try to make it work. There must be really a strong collaboration between the public sector, the private sector and educational institutions and bodies, right? I think everybody functions okay, but in silos, right? The university don't know what the farmers want.
The farmers don't know what the university publishing. The public sector is trained for resources so they can execute their job properly and deliver information and extension services to the farmer in a timely manner. Imagine you have a public sector in agriculture where you have a ETA four job. Is agriculture eight to four, five days a week? No, especially livestock production, right? We need more vets on board. You need so much more AI technicians, you need so much more resources.
[00:11:02] Speaker B: Have conversations, have conversations with the agricultural sector and the past administration been held especially to find solutions to these groundbreaking events. You mentioned something that I, I often, I have a pet peeve with you. Talk about the 24. The, the, the, the, the eight hour a day, five days a week. Now in certain sectors, even during the day, license office, for example, passport office, all these different offices where monies are handled are being handled in terms of paying for transactions over the counter. You often find between 12 and 1, everything comes down and shuts down.
[00:11:38] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:11:39] Speaker B: And at 3:00 it done 2 and, and if you look sharp, you're coming there about 20 to 3, they're telling you, hey, you're a little late because we had a Balance off. Because yeah, they don't, they're not, they're not accepting an eight to four and you're close at three to balance within that last hour to go for four. Them thinking eight to three means out of balance before three and busted by three. So you know, you have mentioned, and that's a pet peeve for me. Now, what do you, what, what do you think needs to happen in terms of evolution for the Ministry of Agriculture to recognize what is necessary to sustain us, to use agriculture as a form of diversification as well, where we can export more and, and slow down on the imports. Because somebody listening you, you called earlier on in the interview. These are luxury items. You know, some of these items are luxurious items. Why are we importing it in such a large amount rather than what we need to sustain us? What is a necessity for us to live as a healthier people and still import the luxury items? You know, for those who can afford it, you bring it in, not a problem. I don't have a problem with it.
[00:12:45] Speaker A: I'm going to bring up a very argumentative point and listen to it carefully and you can even psychographs you as a consumer. Would you purchase a cabbage or a cauliflower grown in Trinidad and Tobago or one imported and placed on a supermarket shelf?
[00:13:00] Speaker B: In all honesty and fairness, what will happen is for me we buy with our eyes. So I'm looking at the one that's imported and it looks rich, it looks a particular way as opposed to the one grown at home. So I can tell you from my perspective, not really understanding the demographics as to where it was, I would purchase the one that you import. Now if I walk into the supermarket or walk into the marketplace and I am seeing local farmers and I'm seeing locally produced products, again shopping with my eyes, I would look for the ones that look the best at the time when I arrive to purchase that. And it could be the best out of the local lot. So at the end of the day, it's responsible upon us as farmers, you all as farmers, the farming industry, to put forward the produce and don't push the foreign ones, push the local produce. The foreign produce should be a backup. You know why? I'll tell you why. Just permit me very quickly. The chemicals that is associated with the foreign produce to bring it in the country and to give it a shelf life must be considered as opposed to when it's locally grown, we can consume it within a certain period of time. So if you push in the foreign products in front my face because that looks richer that's what the consumer will purchase. Your point, right?
[00:14:17] Speaker A: Exactly. So let me just give you the micro breakdown. Behind the scenes, people want to purchase local produce. They have a few issues. One of the major issues, they're not sure about how it is being produced. Right. We have no organic certification board or body in the country to say, well, this is grown in organic method. We are a natural way, right? Yes, you can see it with your mouth. But do you have proof or some certificate that's saying you produce of a certain quality and that's also something that we need to work on and then.
[00:14:47] Speaker B: To add, to add to that point, not cutting here, checks and balances and accountability. So even if you have the proof on the accreditation, they must have a ministry of persons working throughout where like health and safety officers, that is passion checking restaurants. You must have that, that must be compliant and be seen. People must be fearful that, you know, what, if I'm doing the thing wrong, I can be shut down and fined. These are the things that must be implemented. Go ahead.
[00:15:11] Speaker A: Exactly. So you must have your good agricultural practices, your good manufacturing practices. The external bodies must come and test your water quality, your soil quality, the environment. All of these things must be done first to raise our standard of production and our standard of consumption and allow the consumers to believe in us, you understand, so that we produce a top quality product. Now the next thing that consumers have, maybe just like me and you, we look at price. True, sometimes the cost of locally produced food is a bit higher in some instances than imported foods.
Look at the price of good on the side of the road. Look at the price I go in the supermarket.
Good point. One is 20 a pound, one is 45 to 50 above.
[00:15:58] Speaker B: Good point, good point.
[00:16:00] Speaker A: And I love local producers production. I will always purchase local. However, not everybody could be afforded that same luxury.
Right. So it really comes down to price and availability.
But you know, so these are the kind of things we need to really look down and ask. That is the type of technical glasses you have to have on and don't just, I mean, I mean reading books and the theories and stuff are important, very important guiding principles. But you must come out of the office, go down to the field, go in the marketplace, look at the supermarket shell and ask people, hey, how are they feeling? More about going on, where's the issue? Why? I don't like it, why? You know, all of these questions we have to ask.
[00:16:43] Speaker B: Not only that, you know, let's talk a little bit. You mentioned something about policies and procedures, getting regularized, getting registered Now I spoke this morning on one arm of the MIN of the ministerial portfolios across the diaspora and it had to do with the Ministry of Transport as related to bush route passes and the difficulties and the red tape bureaucracy invol. What is it? How difficult was it for farmers? You have 35,000 registered, but there are many farmers exceeding that figure. How difficult it is for farmers to be registered, regularized as it were, when they get down there. What is the process? I mean I'm getting messages where there were numerous talks held with the ministries but it fell on deaf ears. How difficult is the process for farmers to get themselves registered and recognized in this country?
[00:17:26] Speaker A: So a farmer's badges really not that tough of an application to, to apply for. However, you just need the proper documents. So some, some of the, sorry, some of the criteria would have been you have to be over 18 years. You must visit your ministry county office, right? You must be practicing agriculture on at least 18 of an acre or about 1 lot of land. You must have two passport size hotels, proof of Trinidad and Tobago citizenship or residency. I have a little problem with this one and I will maybe come back to it in a second, right? You must have your original land copy of your electoral ID or passport or certificate of citizenship. You must have proof of land tenureship. Big, big, big, big, big issue, right? You must also pay land taxes, your rent receipts. You must have your deed or certificate of title. So all of these are things that you will need. Let me just jump Back to the 1 on proof of Trinidad and Tobago citizenship. Now I'm an agricultural consultant in Trinidad and Tobago and in five other CARICOM countries. I sit on many international boards to many ministers and leaders across the world.
So what I was going to mention is that I have many investors who want to come into Trinidad and invest money and imagine something as simple as getting a farmer's badge they can't get. You know why? Because they are not a citizen or they don't reside here. Imagine something as simple as this is preventing us from getting foreign investment.
All right, so that's one. The second thing was proof of land on your ship. When, when these farmers pass on, you know, their land tenure to the, the kids and who want to take up and you get two because you get two because you do life stuff. You do crap. To process these documents takes so long. Ask anybody. Processing all these, these documents takes so long. Monster years and the probate and is back and forth. And when they go to the office, take a number and they come back and he Put another, they're going on vacation. And so you're going right through y. Right. So all of these things hinder just getting a farmer's badge. Now let me tell you, when they get a farmer's badge, you're good to wear them. The past administration, even the one, even before that, we have a good agricultural incentive program, if I'm not mistaken. We have over 200 plus incentives and subsidies.
We have one of the best incentive and subsidy programs in caricom. Right. We heavily support farmers, but who really gets the card to access the support?
Right. So that's why you'll only see 35,000 registered farmers.
Yeah. So all of these things hinder local agricultural production. I mean, if you type of the name Riyadh Mohammed, you'll see how much articles read all over the papers, all over the place. Always on some budget, on every, every other platform, bringing up these issues. And I have been doing for you almost the last 20 years.
Yeah, right. 18 years. Yeah, 18 years. So it, it does take a toll. Right. And farmers have so much to deal with.
[00:20:34] Speaker B: Well, let me ask, not only farmers.
[00:20:36] Speaker A: Agro processors, you know, everybody on the food value chain, they have issues that they need help with.
[00:20:43] Speaker B: What are some of the things that you would like to see implemented to make these transitions even smoother with this incoming government to be installed within the next week or so? What are some of the initiatives you plan to present to them or re present to them, as it were, given the fact that they were there before in 2010-2015. What are some of the new initiatives, this is 10 years later that you would like to propose to help with the smoother transition and also to reduce the import bill that we currently face.
[00:21:13] Speaker A: All right, I just have five quick tip solutions. The first one is to diversify our crop production. So we want to encourage the cultivation of a wider range of crops, including fruits and vegetables and even non traditional crops. Who could help us with this? Our trade agencies could guide on this investment, Tell us what we need, tell us what would you import, tell us when it does not come and we could plan production. Yeah. The second one would be to promote more sustainable agriculture, really to adopt practices that enhance our soil health. And that's something we never really focused on in the last couple decades. Right. To reduce the use of harsh chemicals, agriculture and good supplies and conserve our water resources. The third one, I've been investing in infrastructure, for example, improving our irrigation systems, the storage facilities, the access roads, the facilitate good, good production and the distribution of safe and nutritious food. The fourth wanna be providing a little more support to farmers but you cannot provide more support to farmers if the parent ministry does not give our ministry of Agricultural Land and Fisheries enough financial and other resources. Right. Farmers still need you know they want to offer some credit incentive subsidies more extension services especially as it relates to livestock production. Remember we talk about an 8 to 4 job agriculture is more than 8 to 4 five days a week. Right. And also at the educational campaign of promoting local consumption we want to encourage the consumption of locally produced agricultural products to reduce the reliance on imports and yes as producers we have to be responsible and prove to the public and prove to our consumers that we are producing safer nutritious food so we must adopt the best practices to grow food.
[00:22:59] Speaker B: Yeah I want to say thank you very much for chatting with us.
[00:23:03] Speaker A: The best insight instant feedback accountability the all new Talk Radio Freedom 106.5.
