T&T Government does'nt seem to care about Agriculture!
Feb 25'th 2008


Dr Gopeesingh a member of T&T parliment has said during a debate "The Prime Minister and his bunch of hacks had to admit they had failed in the development of the agricultural sector".

Dr Gopeesingh had endless facts and figures to use as ammunition, And although he was positively quivering with righteous wrath, his aim was true.

Agriculture used to produce 10 per cent of GDP; now it was down to 0.5 per cent. The price of food had increased by 105 per cent over five and a half years. Under the UNC the country had produced 5.1 million kilograms of tomatoes in two years; under the PNM, 2.9 million. Cucumber production had fallen from 8.2 million kilos to 2.2 million; pumpkin from 17.1 to four million. Food imports had increased from $1.9 billion in 2003 to over $3 billion in 2007.

Against this relentless barrage of inconvenient truths, the Government had no defence except jokes and cross-talk, and had to be shushed by the Speaker, who said he was very interested in Dr Gopeesingh's passionate contribution and so should they be, since they'd have to reply to it.

Thank you, said Dr Gopeesingh, but he was sure they wouldn't be able to.

One classic example of this is Caroni 1975 Ltd.

The state-owned sugar company in the Caribbean republic of Trinidad and Tobago closed down in 2003, with the loss of more than eight thousand jobs.

The company, Caroni, has lost hundreds of millions of dollars over the past decade.

The workers laid off will share a redundancy package totalling more than $100m, and will be given opportunities to retrain, or to lease land for their own use.

The deal follows months of politically sensitive negotiations between the government and the workers' union.

The closure of Caroni reflects the declining importance of agriculture in the region's economy, which is increasingly focusing on manufacturing, offshore industries and the service sector.

End of an era

The sugar industry was once a mainstay of the economy of Trinidad and Tobago.

It was established by the region's British rulers in the nineteenth century, and remained a vital factor in its prosperity for over a hundred years.

More recently, though, it has been a burden on the state's finances.

The sector was nationalised in 1975, and since then the government has invested over $1bn in loans and debt write offs.

But Caroni has continued to lose money, and in 2001 a government committee recommended its closure.

The authorities planed to reopen Caroni under a new name after closing in 2003, although it will be a shadow of its former self, with only 1,000 employees. Sadly in 2008 the last of the workers decided to close the Company down as it has become non viable due to size and expenditure.

Article Copyright: Trinis in London
Article Excerpts Copyright: http://www.trinidadexpress.com
Article Excerpts Copyright: news.bbc.co.uk