By Sue-Ann Wayow
THE $60 million state-of-the-art Next Generation Hatchery in Couva is completed and should soon be laying out more than one million eggs and live chicks that could be exported.
On Monday, Dr Rowley officially opened the new hatchery, a project under the leadership of Director of the Nutrimix Group of Companies Shameer Ronnie Mohammed.
In 2018, Dr Rowley had turned the sod for the facility located at the Corner of Rivulet and Captain Watson Roads, Brechin Castle.
According to the Ministry of Trade and Industry, the facility is expected to be the most modern of its kind in the wider Caribbean and represents the single largest investment in Agriculture in Trinidad and Tobago recently with estimated at a value of $60million.
It is expected to boost local employment and the first phase of the facility will have the capacity for approximately 1.3 million eggs with provisions for an additional 1.7million eggs.
The facility has also introduced new technology that utilises bio-secured controlled ventilation, intelligent chick management systems, and equipment monitoring the entire process from egg to chick.
Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley said Trinidad and Tobago must expand its agricultural vision beyond the shores of the island to raise both the standards and the output of agriculture in the country.
He praised the Nutrimix board for making such an investment, one that was more needed.
Dr Rowley said, “I want to congratulate Ronnie Mohammed and his team for this investment, for not being daunted by the discouragement of the bureaucracy, from politician to public servant but for staying with the dream that says that Trinidad and Tobago can do better and must do better.
“And if we have the resources and if we have the ability to raise the finances, if we have that confidence in the future of the country, if we have trust and faith in our people, let’s make the investment and be owners of structures of this nature and output of this nature and let’s look beyond our borders to see what opportunities exist out there for the investment here in Trinidad and Tobago. That is progress and that is what the Government wants to encourage.”
The Prime Minister also lamented on several instances in which Trinidad and Tobago would have lost opportunities to expand in various crops including Tobago pigeon peas and he claimed he might be the only person in Trinidad with a pigeon peas plant from Tobago.
And Dr Rowley said that the government continued to work towards a sustainable food production level, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Poultry accounts for 50% of agriculture GDP
Attending the ceremony was also Trade Minister Paula Gopee-Scoon and Agriculture Minister Clarence Rambharat.
Rambharat, giving a bit of history of former Caroni (1975) lands, 50 acres of which was used for the facility admitted that the lands were slowly being put to good economic use.
Referring specifically to poultry, he said, “Poultry is a very significant part of our culture. It is more than 50% of the agriculture GDP (Gross Domestic Product), the poultry processors alone employ as much as 12,000 persons particularly single mothers on the East-West corridor.”
He added that poultry processing was unique especially with the use of pluck shops.
Rambharat said, “ e take pluck shops for granted. We have about 3,500 pluck shops in the country employing about 10,000 persons.”
Problems with statutory agencies
Mohammed in his speech spoke of the many challenges that were overcome in order to bring the facility to completion and spanning an 11-year journey.
“It would not be surprising to many that the problems we experienced resulted from our interactions with the statutory agencies during the project design and implementation process,” he said.
That was a major deterrent for private investors, Mohammed said.
Challenges also included the variables in actual construction and cost and with the Covid-19 pandemic, uncertainties with the shipping of equipment.
Mohammed thanked all who made Monday possible and assured that the Nutrimix Group remained committed to providing an important commodity to the population of Trinidad and Tobago.
