Agriculture minister says TT has no food crisis

Agriculture Minister Arnold Piggott says Trinidad and Tobago is not facing a food crisis. His comments came as news to citizens who are scrambling to buy scare food at exorbitant prices and contradicted the reality that confronts consumers daily.

"I wouldn't like us to say that we have a crisis in food in Trinidad and Tobago, because I don't know that we do. I am not aware that we have a crisis at this time. What we have been doing is seeking to prepare such that we don't find ourselves in a crisis," Piggott told reporters Monday at a news conference in Port of Spain.

Piggott said while the nation is importing much of its food "we are producing substantial quantities of food in Trinidad and Tobago."

His revelations also contradict statements by his Cabinet colleague, Consumer Affairs Minister Peter Taylor.

Last week Taylor encouraged consumers to change their eating habits and start planting home gardens to survive the worsening food crisis. Taylor advised the nation to beat the current food crisis by eating what we produce and producing what we eat.

He called on consumers to readjust their tastes and he placed high emphasis on cassava as a substitute for wheat flour. He also spoke of plans to grow cassava as a substitute energy source for poultry.

Taylor said he anticipates that would drive down the cost of chicken, which, he revealed, has already become cheaper by 20 cents a pound during the past week.

Piggott told reporters his ministry is currently conducting “a gap analysis” to determine how much we produce, as opposed to what the population demands. And he urged citizens “to be understanding.”

The minister also announced that his government is “acutely aware of the imperative that has been placed upon Trinidad and Tobago to facilitate increased food production and as we speak, several committees are diligently at work to fine tune certain initiatives."

The committees, he said, are dealing with revising incentives to farmers, praedial larceny, and subsidies for rice farmers and tackling possibilities for labour supply.

He acknowledged the unprecedented increases in the cost of food, adding that a committee is dealing with food and inflation while another is guiding the land settlement and distribution process.

Piggott encouraged farmers to form associations and cooperatives. He said the Government had begun to look at infrastructure development in terms of access to roads, drainage and irrigation.

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President of the Supermarkets Association, Balliram Maharaj, said news reports clearly point to a global crisis for rice and wheat. He disagreed with Pigott, saying the nation is indeed facing a serious food shortage. However he agreed on the need to act quickly to develop and revitalize agriculture.

President of the Downtown Owners and Merchants Association (DOMA), Gregory Aboud, agreed that there might not be a food crisis today but he is convinced that one is imminent.

"The fact remains that there is widespread international concern about the supply of food and that should be ample warning to our country that agriculture needs to become a priority again," Aboud told local media.

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