Curtis Carabai first learned about agriculture from his grandfather St Clair Henry Roberts, who was a small-scale farmer, while he was growing up. With that knowledge he launched Carabai’s Fresh Produce. Carabai now produces vegetables for Food Basket’s south branches, Anand’s Low Price Supermarket, La Romaine, wholesalers at the Macoya Wholesale Market and other retailers.
Carabai also won the Supermarket Association of TT’s (SATT) 2022 entrepreneurship award, competing alongside companies such as Vemco, Nestle and Massy Distribution.
Following the theme of healthy eating, he is also a nutritionist at the San Fernando General Hospital.
He explained his business model and how it benefits him and the community.
“What I do is more community-based farming, since I don’t believe in competition, only collaboration.
"So one thing we do is, we work together to help supply our demand, so for most of the farmers here, we connected the work. It’s like, if I don’t have my weekly order, I could go by one of the villagers' farms and he’ll help supply my order, and it works vice versa.”
He also began teaching young people in the Mon Desir, South Oropouche area about agriculture and helped them create their own businesses. Carabai started his own business six years ago, but his teaching programme started in June after a Young Leaders of the America Initiative fellowship programme in Colorado, US.
“Luckily, I was chosen to go and it was a fully-funded trip. I went to the state of Colorado and worked alongside some of the best large-scale farmers there. It was a three-week programme, and they equipped us with new knowledge, their style of agriculture – a more modernised style of agriculture, which we can’t practise here because of machinery.
"But basically strategically-wise, like how they will plan the farm and stuff – I think that I could implement back in my farm.”
That programme is an annual exchange scheme for 280 young business and social entrepreneurs from 37 countries across Latin America, the Caribbean and Canada, who are matched with businesses and organisations across the US.
“The farm I went to in Colorado is more wheat and grain farming, and it may sound impossible and unrealistic, but I want to implement grain farming down here, seeing as though we have no grain farmers.
"I believe in implementing new things where I’ll get government support.”
Carabai said he believes the government will take an interest in what he wants to offer, since it's new and can provide food security for wheat products. He said the government knows traditional farming works, since so many people are already doing it. But he has a gut feeling they’ll be eager to hear him out once he brings this idea to life.
“I want to start to at least do some trials here in Trinidad. Two people have already reached out to me and they are interested in the trial.”
Carabai said these trials will begin during the dry season, and when they are successful, he will take his results and the idea to the Ministry of Agriculture.
Carabai
