September 8, 2016: Senator the Honourable Clarence Rambharat, Minister of Agriculture, Land and Fisheries delivered the Feature Address at the Agricultural Society of Trinidad and Tobago’s (ASTT) Farmers Forum on Wednesday 7th September, 2016 at the Maloney Foodcrop area. The event commenced with a tour of the hot pepper fields of young farmer, Mr. Nawaz Karim.
In his Address, Minister Rambharat outlined that ‘continuity, consistency and focus are critical to building the foundation and sustaining the work we have to do in agriculture.’ He shared progress on the critical issues being addressed during this first year of office, under the theme ‘Structure, Good Governance and People’. These included the issue of ‘land tenure, which has to be solved’, making a commitment that his term of office will be the term ‘that this matter of land tenure is finally dealt with’. The issue of security was addressed in the context of an update shared on the status of the Praedial Larceny Squad. Plans to evolve from a paper-based application process, for land tenure, subsidies, incentives, compensation, etc. to a technology-based one were also shared with the almost three hundred in attendance. Farmers were encouraged to participate in the Farmers’ Markets, hosted by NAMDEVCO, which gives them an opportunity for primary contact with consumers. The issue of access to both a quality and ample supply of planting material was also addressed.
He reminded the audience that his first year intentions were ‘in bringing a Ministry of Agriculture, Land and Fisheries back together, [to] create the appropriate structure in which our services could be delivered. Secondly, [to] focus on good governance and in particular the work of ADB, NAMDEVCO and all the Agencies under my watch – to hold them accountable, to give them a clear mandate to ensure that they carry out Government policy.’ He said that ‘as Minister, it is my job to continue to work to ensure that all these Agencies on which you [the farmer] rely are fully resourced, understand what they are to do, and ultimately [that they do such].’
In closing, the Agriculture Minister said that ‘I have enjoyed a tremendous amount of goodwill from farmers and fisherfolk across the country, and let me assure you that it is deeply appreciated’.
Mrs. Dhano Sookoo, President, Agricultural Society of Trinidad and Tobago (ASTT) highlighted the benefits of the Programme, saying to participants that ‘you are seeing the best and you are learning from the best’; noting that this Programme is an example of ‘how important partnership is and what we can achieve when we come together.’
Farouk Shah, Director of the ASTT, speaking on export opportunities for our local farmers, said that ‘the future looks bright for all of us’.
Other speakers included Mr. Ulrich Thiessen, Representative, European Union; Mr. Gregg Rawlins, Representative, Inter-American Institute for Cooperation in Agriculture (IICA); Mr. Fayaz Shah, Caribbean Agriculture Research and Development Institute (CARDI);
The event, which celebrated the training of some two hundred farmers, with funding received from EU, IICA and CARDI under the Agriculture Policy Programme - CARIFORUM, saw the distribution of C3 equipment and live demonstrations of packing produce for export.
The Agriculture Minister will mark his one year anniversary as Minister with a series of stakeholder meetings in the Rio Claro, Navet, Biche and Mayaro areas over the coming weekend.
Minister Rambharat delivers the feature address at the Farmers Forum.
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