Agriculture Minister Clarence Rambharat is visiting farmers across the country to decide how his ministry’s $831 million budgetary allocation will be spent. The minister, who met with farmers in South Trinidad over the weekend, said he has visited Icacos, Erin, Otaheite and Mon Diablo, so far.
“The outreach is really to get a sense of what are the priority areas for the farmers and the fishermen,” he said.
“Going out means I am able to see the existing infrastructure and see some of the major issues and listen to the farmers, so that I could assist the Permanent Secretary in term of funding what we going to do in this first year.”
Rambharat said the main problems identified so far are land tenure, access roads and depletion of fish stocks.
“Farmers who cultivate but don't have leases and those who had leases that have expired, that is possibly the number one issue. The second issue relates to access roads that are in disrepair and the third issue is on the fisheries side, reducing fish stock and the state of the fishing facilities,” he said.
“In terms of land tenure I have said we are going to focus on Nariva, Mayaro and county Caroni this year in terms of regularization because based on my research and understanding that is where the problem is chronic.”
He said farmers have also complained about the extension services department of the ministry.
“They are the ones who interact with the farmers on a day-to-day basis when they have problems dealing with pests and other issues. I have heard complaints about the quality of those services and the fact that they don't see the officers,” the minister said.