By Sue-Ann Wayow
FOR the fiscal year 2022, $300 million will be allocated to the Agriculture Stimulus Fund to grow the sector.
This was announced by Finance Minister Colm Imbert on Monday during the 2021/2022 Budget.
This allocation is in addition to the normal budgetary allocation of $1.249 billion to the Ministry of Agriculture, Lands and Fisheries.
“It represents a substantial increase over the normal year’s allocation for Agriculture,” Imbert said.
The Agriculture Stimulus Fund is in the Ministry of Finance for use by the Ministry of Agriculture, Lands and Fisheries, to fund the expansion in production and marketing of selected high-demand commodities with short production cycles such as vegetables, legumes, roots and tubers, grains, fruits and small livestock.
The funding is intended to support the securing of adequate quality seeds, the use of alternative feedstock, and the regularisation of land issues, to accelerate land tenure and access to idle state lands, the minister said.
He added that the Agriculture Ministry has advised that over the last year it has worked assiduously to design and plan a series of agriculture projects and programmes to access the stimulus package and that several of these projects were ready to launch.
Additionally, the agriculture sector was expecting millions of dollars in investment from the private sector, Imbert said.
The minister said while there was a great deal of discussion regarding the rapid increase in food prices, in most cases, Government is expecting that food prices will subside to its pre-pandemic ranges in 2022 “once the transitory disturbances work their way through food prices.”
Roads to agriculture
In 2022, Government will be embarking on an access road repair programme which is expected to cover 80 kilometres and provide relief for over 400 farmers at a cost $75 million. These areas include Matelot, Toco, Manzanilla, Sangre Grande, Talparo, Wallerfield, Maracas St. Joseph, Tunapuna, Orange Grove, Brasso Seco, Paria, Blanchisseuse, Lopinot and Paramin,Imbert said.
In the Plum Mitan area, $11 million is committed for the replacement in 2022 of the decades-old pumps as well as access road repair.
“These policy initiatives are now being fully implemented,” the minister added.
Investment in livestock
The Finance Minister said, “I can also say with some confidence that there is at this time more than $200 million in private sector investment being made in livestock production, poultry production, including duck farming and processing, rabbit-rearing and processing, hatcheries, greenhouses, agro-processing, seafood processing, and agro-processing for export markets.”
He listed the Aripo Livestock Limited that in 2022 expects another $20 million, the Nutrimix Group that completed the modern hatchery facility in Couva at a cost of over $60 million and Central Farms which produces one million pounds of duck meat annually and is expected to make a further $10 million investment in 2022 to expand capacity.
He said the National Agricultural Marketing and Development (NAMDEVCO) settled on a partner for the incomplete packing house in Couva who has agreed to a million-dollar investment next year.
Novo has just launched its $60 million agro-processing facility in Couva and in the next 18 months will make an additional $5 to $10 million investment in the local agriculture sector.
Pricesmart has also made an investment in a modern produce distribution centre in the new Phoenix Park Industrial Estate and will be pumping several million dollars in 2022.
The rice parboiling plant which is a $15 million investment by Trinidad Parboil Limited in Couva will commence construction in early 2022.
Sprout Farms will begin construction of its $6million modern greenhouse facility in St Joseph before the end of 2021.
And at least one investor is currently sourcing equipment to outfit one of the leased units at the Moruga Agro and Light Industrial Park and that investment will be $3 million to $5 million over the next 18 months, the minister said.
Covid relief food packages
Referring to the food box packages given as Covid-19 relief by the Ministry of Agriculture, Imbert said by the end of September 2021, food packages for 136,000 families through the 41 Members of Parliament and 49,000 families through the 138 local government councillors and 12 Tobago assemblymen were distributed, a total of 185,000 food packages for the five month period.
Imbert said the initial target for the period was 125,000 at a cost of $62.5 million.
Apart from the politicians, food packages were also allocated to several non-governmental organisations to aid in the distribution process.
