Food prices and survival back home in TT

I often sit at home here in Canada and wonder how on earth people back home in Trinidad can survive with their meagre wages and the escalating food prices. And I wonder if I can ever go home and feel comfortable again - or just manage - on the small pension that I would get from Canada on retirement.

I write about these thoughts today because I looked at the Trinidad and Tobago papers and can't believe some of the things I read. Pholourie is now two for a dollar, doubles $4 and in some places $5, the same for saheena, baiganee and aloo pies.

I refer to these because it's the common breakfast tradition to stop by the roadside vendor for what used to be an affordable meal before taking on the day. And while the temptation is to blame the poor vendor for gouging the consumer, the reality is that she or he is not making any more profit. It is a case of covering the cost of production.

All of these food items are flour-based. Flour just went up again in the country, now retailing at around $5.00 a kilo. Supermarkets are trying to cushion the increase to stay in business and retain customers. But they can't do it for long. Like everybody else, they have to pay higher costs for electricity, water, rent, wages and every other item associated with doing business.

And in the midst of all this, the labour unions are asking for a minimum wage of $20.00 an hour. It's a real catch 22. People can't survive today with what they are making so they need a higher wage, businesses cannot sustain a higher wage because it will pull them under.

I know that International factors are partly responsible for what's happening, but that's little comfort for people who just need to eat and feed their kids every day, buy books and clothes to send the children to school, pay for doctors and medicine.

And when I think of these things, I wonder if anybody in office - past and present - really give a damn about the little people whom they exploit election after election.

The country has the capacity to feed itself 10 times over if those in charge would just think of people for a change. If they would just come out of their offices or just park their BMWs and Mercedes and walk among the people, they'll see the potential.

For generations farmers have suffered from flooding and poor access roads. Fixing just these two problems could cause a greater supply of fresh produce to the markets at lower prices. Yet every government has paid lip service to the farming community and the problems remain.

I remember working as a consultant for Caroni (1975) Limited and being privy to a whole lot of confidential information (which I can't reveal even now) for structural change leading to profitability. But what was the answer? Shut it down.

In one short-sighted, politically motivated move, the Patrick Manning government shut down the industry, tossing an entire community of nearly a quarter million into an economic tailspin. I will write about Caroni and its socio-economic role another day, but I want to stick with the food issue today.

Caroni owned 75,000 acres of arable land, some of the most fertile anywhere in the country. The company was producing rice in a fully mechanized operation. It had a thriving dairy and livestock sector, citrus and much more. It had viable plans to make these profitable but as a state corporation, its decision-making was in the hands of the Whitehall elite.

Today, some of the best agricultural lands are being converted into ghettos, while men and women capable of farming these lands have no work and still have to provide food for their families. It just doesn't make any sense.

Tobago used to be a food basket. The island has the potential to produce more than enough for the whole country, but the land is just sitting there.

Food security is more important than everything else to maintain a nation's independence. Today we are seeing the folly of an import culture. I agree that Globalisation has changed the rules dramatically and we must somehow "pay" for that.

But common sense tells us that we can do better. We can invest some of the energy windfall in agriculture and food production. We don't need to go to Guyana to grow food; we have enough land and human resources in Trinidad and Tobago to do it.

We are blessed with everything - land, climate, people and money. Why can't we solve the most basic problem of feeding ourselves?

I ask myself this question everyday and wonder if any one of the people who govern the nation is doing the same. I know it's easy for them to afford everything because they have the money. But certainly each of them knows at least one family that didn't have breakfast this morning. They must know that at least one mother today went hungry so she could buy medicine for her sick child.

Today new high rises are reaching into the sky, the Prime Minister is flying high in private jets, he lives in a 148-million dollar mansion built with the people's money and has his own private security. The government boasts of a robust economy and a vision 2020 to make Trinidad and Tobago a developed nation.

I must be an idiot but honestly I cannot figure out how they can believe this when tens of thousand of people have no future, when kids go hungry every day, where doctors live in mansions and drive the best cars and people can't get the most basic health care without handing over their week's grocery money.

Something is wrong with the nation that nurtured me and made me who I am. I am deeply hurt by what I see and it pains me most because I know that it doesn't have to be so. We can do better.

I really want to go home again and plant a rose garden in my front yard. But I'll have to wait and hope that things will change.

For now I have to be content with buying doubles at Drupati's roti shop here in Toronto.