The Ministry of Legal and Consumer Affairs has commissioned a study of operations at the Port-of-Spain port to ascertain how imported goods can be removed from the docks more quickly in a bid to reduce food prices. Legal and Consumer Affairs Minister Peter Taylor said the operations of the Customs and Excise Division must also be examined as the division plays an important role in the clearing of goods.

By Raphael John Lall

Minister of Agriculture, Land and Marine Affairs Arnold Piggott said yesterday Cuban farming consultants are expected to arrive in T&T by next month to help set setting up large scale state-owned farms.

He made the dicslosure at a press conference at the Programme Co-ordinating Unit of the Ministry of Agriculture, St Clair.

The press conference was held jointly with Minister of Legal and Consumer Affairs Peter Taylor, to address the issue of rising food prices.

Piggott said a Cuban planning team will arrive in Port-of-Spain about April 28 and a full project team by May 5. He said Ministry officials spent a week in Cuba inspecting farms and agro-processing centres.

“The experience there has been rich and varied and we intend to use Cuban technology in the Tucker valley operations, a 200-acre farm,” he said.

Piggott said the Tucker Valley farm was part of a wider plan for state-owned farms to meet the food needs of this country.

“The Government launched the National Agri-business Development Plan (Nadep) in May 2007, bringing a minimum additional 20,000 acres of land into production with 14,000 acres coming through the two-acre plots allocated to the former Caroni workers, 3,000 acres from other small and medium-sized farms and 3,000 acres from new large farms.

He said Government had committed to spending $15 million to develop infrastructure for some of the farms and a large number of the designated sites will be infrastructure-ready by June.

“The large farms are expected to dramatically increase the supplies of staples such as cassava, sweet potato, plantain, pumpkin, corn, meat supplies including goat and sheep, rabbits and beef, milk, fish, shrimp and cat-fish. Also, fruit like paw paw, pineapple, citrus and pommecythere as well as water melons. Those are some of the products that will be derived from large farms,” he said.

Piggott said there is a proposal for contracted farmers to produce agricultural goods for the T&T Agribusiness Association (TABA) after which these products will be price-tagged before being sent to supermarkets.

Piggott said praedial larceny is a “burning issue” and a disincentive to farm production. He said a committee will be set up to propose solutions to deal with the problem.