Food Production Minister Vasant Bharath told reporters Tuesday food prices in Trinidad and Tobago will begin to fall in the next three to four months.
Speaking during a break in the Senate sitting, the minister also said fast food outlets will soon be offering cassava chips.
“We’ve just got our foot in the door with KFC and Royal Castle to sell cassava chips over their counters,” he said: “We are in the final rounds of testing and tasting, so I would say within two months," adding the cassava chips are more nutritious that what people buy at the present time. .
Bharath also talked about the possibility of using cassava flour as a substitute for wheat flour to reduce the annual expenditure on imported food, which is about $4 billion.“Within another three to four months we should start to see the effects of what we have done,” he said.
The minister said Government is building 300 irrigation ponds and more than 200 kilometres of access roads. In addition it has launched a praedial larceny programme along with major incentives to encourage farming and food production.
Bharath said because of a lack of infrastructure the price of food had increased significantly over the past several years.
He said his ministry would establish at least nine large farms across the country to produce a variety of food crops not grown on regular farms.
The minister said the farms would be producing sweet corn, rice, tomatoes and onions with agro industires growing alongside the farms.
Speaking during a break in the Senate sitting, the minister also said fast food outlets will soon be offering cassava chips.
“We’ve just got our foot in the door with KFC and Royal Castle to sell cassava chips over their counters,” he said: “We are in the final rounds of testing and tasting, so I would say within two months," adding the cassava chips are more nutritious that what people buy at the present time. .
Bharath also talked about the possibility of using cassava flour as a substitute for wheat flour to reduce the annual expenditure on imported food, which is about $4 billion.“Within another three to four months we should start to see the effects of what we have done,” he said.
The minister said Government is building 300 irrigation ponds and more than 200 kilometres of access roads. In addition it has launched a praedial larceny programme along with major incentives to encourage farming and food production.
Bharath said because of a lack of infrastructure the price of food had increased significantly over the past several years.
He said his ministry would establish at least nine large farms across the country to produce a variety of food crops not grown on regular farms.
The minister said the farms would be producing sweet corn, rice, tomatoes and onions with agro industires growing alongside the farms.
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