Buy local, eat local.

This was the advice meted out by Consumer Affairs Minister Peter Taylor, who yesterday shifted the burden on consumers, as he urged them to change their eating habits and start planting home gardens to survive the worsening food crisis.

Taylor, in a statement to the Parliament, addressed the pressing issue of high food prices and reiterated a number of initiatives the Government had undertaken to deal with this problem.

However, he stressed that there is no escape from the rocketing cost of food, because there are a number of factors globally that are affecting food production and consumption.

"It is imperative...that we both accept and realise that if we are not to continuously remain completely vulnerable to the vagaries of the international market, we must quickly readjust our focus towards the consumption of more locally produced foodstuff, eat what we produce, and produce what we eat," Taylor said during yesterday's sitting.

He said the question consumers must now ask themselves is, "Are we prepared to modify our eating habits and taste preferences?" He said for example, consumers could shift from the use of wheat flour to the use of cassava flour, which can be readily and economically produced locally.

Taylor said steps have already been taken by his ministry towards the formulation of a food and nutrition policy that would foster greater appreciation and consumption of locally grown products, all of which will soon become available in sufficiently large quantities and affordable prices, as a result of Government initiatives.

Government, he said, is doing all it can, through a number of short, medium and long term measures, to bring about relief, but he noted that consumers also play a vital role in dealing with food inflation.

"We must not lose sight of the fact that ultimately, it is our responsibility to manage our finances by budgeting, shopping wisely, making clear distinctions between needs and wants, luxuries and necessities, and, of course, saving."

Taylor said many of our parents, on much smaller incomes, were able to care for the family, educate their children and still save. He said the time had come to adopt many of those same values of thrift and economical spending.

"Are those of us with undeveloped land space around our homes willing to re-embrace the traditions of our grandparents and develop kitchen gardens for growing lettuce, cabbage, chive, parsley and other vegetables and legumes?" Taylor asked.

"Are those of us who cultivate ornamental flowers disposed to increasing our food self sufficiency, utilising some of that space for growing tomatoes, spinach, ochro and pigeon peas for instance?"

He added, "We would be making an invaluable contribution towards this relentless rise in food prices."

Taylor said the ministry will provide seeds to consumers to start their gardens through its Consumer Outreach programme, among them pigeon peas, pumpkin, bodi, ochro, corn and hot pepper.

He also recommended the Grow Box initiative of the Agriculture Ministry, where the ministry has been training and encouraging persons with limited land space to start their own gardens, by providing seedlings, bagasse, sharp sand and concrete blocks. He invited the public to visit Agriculture Ministry's regional administration (North) office at Farm Road, Curepe, to get more information.

He also said the first batch of Cuban farmers were to arrive here in July to start on the Tuckey Valley, Chaguaramas mega farm project.

While Taylor offered advice to consumers, he also issued a stern warning to retailers, threatening legislative action if they continue to hike up their prices. He said retailers were marking up prices when in fact these increases bore little relationship to the increases in the imported prices of food items.

"Why should the price of soft drink at the retail end increase from $3 to $5 in the space of a mere four months? Why should the price of indigenous foods such as doubles and bake and shark increase by 75 per cent in the space of three months, when there has not been a corresponding increase in the price of raw materials and other inputs such as labour, equipment and overheads to this extent?"

Taylor said Parliament can pass an affirmative resolution to establish an order to prohibit the practice of imposing conditions for the sale of goods and services.

"This Government therefore serves fair notice to all concerned that it will not hesitate to implement necessary legislation, as it is empowered to do, to discourage any such adverse trade practices which are inimical to the best interests of consumers," Taylor threatened.