The 2022 Trinidad and Tobago Agricultural Forum and Expo, which will be held from August 19-22, is the second of its kind in this region for the year.
Hot on the heels of the Agricultural Expo in Guyana, the forum in TT plans to continue the conversation on food security with the ultimate goal of reducing the region's billion-dollar import bill by 25 per cent by 2025.
Foreign Affairs Minister Amery Browne told Business Day the event is garnering huge interest from businesses and public officials alike with countries such as Brazil expressing interest.
These countries come with their own beneficial experiences and strategies, which they will also share in the expo.
But as the country prepares to host the region and the hemisphere by extension, agricultural economist Omardath Maharaj said discussions on proper policy, a full assessment of the agricultural sector after seven years of governance, and making proposals for the development of government-run facilities should be the focus of government at this expo.
“Without knowing where our food comes from, how it is produced, without respecting the circumstances of the men and women who work to feed us, and without grasping that the continued importation – especially of primary agricultural commodities – is support for foreign farmers, we would not appreciate how serious food security planning becomes for a small island developing state with very constricted revenue streams in the short term,” Maharaj said.
Maharaj: Lessons of earlier expos fell on deaf ears
Asked whether or not expos such as the planned agri forum and expo in August has an overall effect on the farming industry, Maharaj pointed out several local expos which he said bore fruit that was left to spoil.
[caption id="attachment_967021" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Kabir Muhammad, a Goodman Trace farmer, shows some of his watermelon that was damaged after heavy rains in Penal in 2021. Perennial problems including flooding and praedial larceny are affecting the farming industry. - FILE PHOTO/Marvin Hamilton[/caption]
He spoke of an initiative that he undertook, along with the Tableland Pineapple Farmers Association, National 4-H Council and several other private-sector agribusiness stakeholders, called the National Fruit Festival, which had similar intentions to those of August’s forum.
The forum, however, focused on public education and awareness along with entrepreneurship. UWI's Faculty of Food and Agriculture also organised the Tech-Agri Expo for similar purposes, going further to include research and innovation in agriculture and food production, until the beginning of the pandemic.
“The National Fruit Festival became known as the largest grassroots movement in the local agriculture sector. This climaxed in 2015 and was actually the forum used by Clarence Rambharat to make a sales pitch in agriculture as a political hopeful. Both are now history,” he said.
The group also advocated for an "eat local" day, and is still trying to organise the event to this day, Maharaj said.
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