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Author Topic: Imagine T&T imports corn and wheat...  (Read 1320 times)

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Offline Flex

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Imagine T&T imports corn and wheat...
« on: August 02, 2012, 02:42:45 AM »
And we have the climate and land to grow these stuff.... so now food prices going up... this is what happens when you build your house on someone else land. When other countries suffer, T&T follows because we have nothing solid in place.

And this going back a while now, I remember Patrick Manning once said agricultural was for slaves.

So develop the agricultural land to build more McDonalds and Wendys while Americans trying to do the opposite.

Food $$ too high
T&T Newsday
Thursday, August 2 2012


FOOD Production Minister Devant Maharaj is assuring that steps are being taken to curb the rise in food prices especially as the Supermar-kets Association of Trinidad and Tobago has warned of such a rise in light of prolonged drought in areas of the United States which grows such staples as corn and wheat.

One such step according to the Minister is seeking to reduce the cost of livestock feed for local farmers.

Minister Bharath told Newsday that over the past few weeks officials from his Ministry have hosted stakeholder consultations as well as meetings with core staff, various representative associations and regional and international agencies engaged in the domestic economy.

“These were not limited to FAO, IICA, NAMDEVCO, SIDC, Sugarcane Feed Centre, TT Sheep and Goat Association and the Cunupia Farmers Association. One of the key suggestions is to fast-track the Mon Jaloux Forage Development Centre in an effort to reduce the cost of feed for the livestock and small ruminant industries,” Maharaj said.

This facility was launched last week Friday. Minister Maharaj added that discussions are ongoing to find the best way forward with other initiatives proposed. With respect to feed for poultry, the Minister said while a lot of producers prefer to sell corn for consumption as compared to feed, the ministry will be seeking continued dialogue with the TT Poultry Association on the way forward.

Minister Maharaj said his Ministry would like to allay all fears that the Government may not act in time to curtail the rise in food prices as predicted by the Supermarkets Association of Trinidad and Tobago.

The Minister is insisting that a “national concerted effort is needed to redirect our focus into import-substitution strategies and therefore act in the best interest of the welfare of our citizenry. This would ensure that we could properly shield against any negative impact that may arise from imported inflation”.

The Minister assured that the Ministry of Food Production is supportive of the local agricultural sector in keeping with its key mandates to reduce inflation fuelled by food prices as well as to reduce the country’s food import bill.

The real measure of a man's character is what he would do if he knew he would never be found out.

Offline lefty

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Re: Imagine T&T imports corn and wheat...
« Reply #1 on: August 02, 2012, 04:35:06 AM »
I don't think we have the capacity or economies of scale on our side for viable large scale corn or wheat production and um doesn't wheat have specific climate requirements  ??? ??? ??? anyways.............
« Last Edit: August 02, 2012, 06:23:35 AM by lefty »
I pity the fool....

Offline Flex

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Re: Imagine T&T imports corn and wheat...
« Reply #2 on: August 02, 2012, 05:11:30 AM »
Its just not that I'm getting at lefty.....

We import things we could grow....

Or we could adapt some system to benefit us and not rely on other countries for CERTAIN products.

Now America cripple and T&T suffering because of CORN !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I remember a couple years ago, they close down Caroni and was importing sugar from Guyana.

I also remember under Panday regime, Guyana owned us money, he told them keep the money and pay us with rice, something we could grow and not only this but the rice we were getting were full with Weevils....

So in other words, we were getting both meat and rice for one price.....   :rotfl:

Imagine we produce gas in T&T and it more expensive to buy than other countries who import it.

Serious though, the people in-charge really needs a wake up call.

I guess the politicians getting money under the table as usual...

« Last Edit: August 02, 2012, 08:50:05 AM by Flex »
The real measure of a man's character is what he would do if he knew he would never be found out.

Offline lefty

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Re: Imagine T&T imports corn and wheat...
« Reply #3 on: August 02, 2012, 06:28:50 AM »
yeah I know there are things we can grow ourselves and what we needed was a national farms project
I pity the fool....

Offline Observer

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Re: Imagine T&T imports corn and wheat...
« Reply #4 on: August 02, 2012, 09:25:47 AM »
since the late 70's our food imports far exceeded export. It is crazy system! We good grow corn, no problem at all. I read that in 2006 our food import bill was 2 billion.
To argue with a person who has renounced the use of reason is like administering medicine to the dead
                                              Thomas Paine

Offline Daft Trini

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Re: Imagine T&T imports corn and wheat...
« Reply #5 on: August 02, 2012, 09:43:03 AM »
Given the revenue we threw at UDECOTT, we could have used some of that finance to create greenhouses or climate controlled growing rooms. If wheat could grow in the UAE, with oil money, why are staples not a priority for this country? The governments should have invested in cereals and aqua farming!

Offline Jah Gol

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Re: Imagine T&T imports corn and wheat...
« Reply #6 on: August 02, 2012, 10:41:01 AM »
I agree with what you saying Flex. We could invest agriculture and subsidize the production of food in particular because of the overall benefit derived to the country through food security and employment.

I disagree with you on sugar though. I could never rationalize the maintenance of a cash crop industry through government subsidies. I can't support that. In that regard if our manufacturers and consumers require the commodity it would be better to import it than to produce it inefficiently. What we should have done was diversify away from sugar into the production of food on a large scale.

Clarification: Manning's comment was actually about the sugar and not agriculture, not that it was any less foolish or insensitive.

On another note you could correct me if I'm wrong but as I understand it the production of sugar cane along with the lash and burn method depletes soil of nutrients and makes it difficult to produce any other crop.

Offline dinho

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Re: Imagine T&T imports corn and wheat...
« Reply #7 on: August 02, 2012, 10:47:38 AM »
Given the revenue we threw at UDECOTT, we could have used some of that finance to create greenhouses or climate controlled growing rooms. If wheat could grow in the UAE, with oil money, why are staples not a priority for this country? The governments should have invested in cereals and aqua farming!

I know that some years ago, the government was offering incentives, subsidies and startup financing for greenhouses and climate control growing through the ADB... At the time myself and a friend were actually looking at it seriously as a possible business ventures.

Don't know what ever became of it or if it ever took off. Like many of these good programs implemented, the interest seemed not to be there from the population to pick it up and run with it.
         

Offline Deeks

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Re: Imagine T&T imports corn and wheat...
« Reply #8 on: August 02, 2012, 03:19:09 PM »
I don't think we can grow wheat. Wheat needs a dry climate. We are pretty much tropical lots of water and too humid for wheat. I don't think they grow wheat in Florida. sugar cane and plenty citrus. Now corn, yes we can grow that. But like someone said we lack the capacity and economy of scale to be self sufficient in full corn production and even sugar production. That is why we import from Guyana. Importing food from Guyana should not be a hassle. They are a Caricom country and at least our money is going to a sister Caribbean country.We can't even be self sufficient in chicken production. What stopping us from doing it.

 People here don't realise that TT is a physical small country with a growing population. While Guyana is about 38 times our size but has 3/4 of our population. Now is the time to partner with Guyana and Suriname to further the free trade commitments that was started since 1972.

Offline Flex

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Re: Imagine T&T imports corn and wheat...
« Reply #9 on: August 02, 2012, 04:43:41 PM »
Jah Gol, Deeks, others... It dont have to be specific (wether corn or wheat) it was just a reference. As Observer pointed out, we cannot continue to import more than we export - that's a negative, and I eh went to no big college to know that.

There is enough empty land in T&T we could develop into green houses and agriculture land.

Yes the population is growing, but we could cross the bridge when the time comes.

Furthermore, the Summit we had in T&T one of the main topics discuss were air pollution and going green, anyone here based in T&T saw any projects since then ?

The real measure of a man's character is what he would do if he knew he would never be found out.

 

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