This country has bought rice seedlings from Guyana. It comes as there are efforts being made by the State to revitalise the rice industry in order to foster food security. Alicia Boucher has the details from the distribution ceremony.
00:00Rice is one of the commonly used starches in the diets of the people of this country.
00:05And as such, there has been a push since 2023 to revitalize and modernize this sector.
00:11According to Minister of Agriculture Ravi Rattiram, it requires collaboration among stakeholders.
00:17On phase one, the Ministry of Agriculture, Land and Fisheries has allocated over two million to jumpstart this revitalization.
00:28This includes the procurement of 100 tons of high-quality rice seeds for the 2025 planting season from the Cooperative Republic of Guyana.
00:42Support for the commercial planting of approximately 2,000 acres across Trinidad and Tobago.
00:49In addition, he states that some of the funds will be used for irrigation, drainage and creating access roads.
00:55He has also indicated an intention to tackle the land tenure issues facing farmers.
01:01Rattiram says the decline in rice production in the country has been sharp from about 2,800 metric tons per day in 2014
01:09to a mere 445 metric tons in 2023, based on data from the finance ministry.
01:17He further calls it unsustainable.
01:19The consequences are real.
01:22Greater dependence on inputs, increased exposure to global supply shocks, and vulnerability to fluctuating prices.
01:33At present, Trinidad and Tobago imports over 90 percent of its rice, mostly from Guyana and the United States.
01:42Rattiram says the seedlings received from Guyana are in high demand, both in that country and Suriname.
01:50And he's thanking the Guyanese government for setting them aside for TNT.
01:54Meanwhile, the ministry's project coordinator, Nigel Grimes, outlines that farmers now have access to quality rice,
02:01and he expects the investment to pay off.
02:04Planting materials such as this that we've received from Guyana is certified as being true to form.
02:13The planting material is also high-yielding and disease-resistant.
02:19And farmers will understand how critical and important it is for us to have good quality planting material
02:24in order for us to achieve the desired goals of not only a high yield, but good quality rice.
02:31I look forward for us, utilizing these seeds in a productive manner, and in us achieving a bumper crop for 2025.
02:42The Ministry of Foreign and Caricom Affairs is expressing gratitude to Guyana for the ongoing work it is doing with TNT in the area of agriculture.
02:52Trinidad and Tobago and Guyana have served as each other's keepers
02:58on a number of bilateral and multilateral issues.
03:03As we look to the future, we look forward to further deepening this partnership
03:08towards the goal of building a stronger Caribbean community.
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