Agri-consultant urges smarter spending as key to cutting food import bill

Farmers carry bags of fertiliser to their dasheen garden in Tunapuna. - File photo

When farmers, government agencies, banks, researchers, and businesses collaborate, they help manage every aspect of agriculture, from crop cultivation to sales, more efficiently, which in turn helps the industry grow.

Agriculture consultant Riyadh Mohammed made the comments on October 14, as he called for smarter spending to cut the nation’s food import bill.

Mohammed highlighted that the budget measures were critical to reversing $7.3 billion food import cost and empowering local farmers.

“In 2024, the cost of importing food into TT exceeded $7.3 billion, a significant increase over previous years,” he said, adding the amount demonstrated how much the country depended on food imports to meet its local needs.

“Production in TT is increasing slowly and has been challenging for many stakeholders because of poorly treated soils, insufficient infrastructure, restricted access to technology (affordability), climate vulnerabilities, and low investment.”

For the 2024/2025 fiscal year, $1.18 billion was allocated to agriculture.

Finance Minister Davendranath Tancoo, in his maiden budget statement presented on October 13 in the Parliament, announced that $1.13 billion was allocated to the agriculture sector for fiscal 2025/2026.

The minister highlighted initiatives, including a three-year priority commodities programme for 15 high-demand products, which he said was aligned with Caricom’s “25 by 2025” strategy to cut food imports by 25 per cent by 2030 while promoting agro-exports.

“Of the $1.13 billion allocated, $793.7 million went to agri-tech projects, such as AI farming and smart agriculture, infrastructure, irrigation, fisheries, and land development,” Mohammed said.

“This investment aims to boost production, sustainability, and export potential. Although the allocation appears to be smaller, effective money management is essential to the expansion of the farm industry.”

Another initiative announced was climate-resilient farming and crop insurance, greenhouse incentives, and water-harvesting systems.

According to Mohammed, climate-resilient farming is essential because it enables agricultural systems to withstand and adapt to the adverse consequences of climate change, such as rising temperatures, unpredictable weather patterns, droughts, floods, and pests.

“By employing climate-resilient practices, farmers can increase access to nutrient-dense food, reduce crop losses, and increase yields. Food security and livelihoods will improve as a result, especially for vulnerable smallholder farmers.”

Mohammed further highlighted that agricultural insurance was crucial for farmers and the agricultural sector since it provided total financial protection against the numerous risks connected to farming.

“It helps farmers manage the unpredictability of weather, pests, sickness, equipment damage, and market fluctuations while preserving business continuity by acting as a safety net,” he said.

He emphasised that farmers could adopt climate-smart, sustainable, and profitable farming methods by collaborating with research institutes and development partners to share best practices, technology and knowledge.

Those partners include the Inter-American Institute for Co-operation on Agriculture (IICA), Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the Caribbean Agricultural Research and Development Institute (CARDI).

Mohammed is an agriculture lecturer at the School of Higher Education Ltd (SHEL), founder and president of Real Agriculture TT Farmers Group and lead agriculture consultant at Tropical Agriculture Consultancy Services Ltd.

On the integration of agriculture into schools and youth entrepreneurship through the Youth Agricultural Fund, Mohammed welcomed the initiative.

Mohammed added that teaching agriculture could give students a fundamental understanding of food production, sustainability, and the environment, as well as crucial life skills and future employment chances.

Mohammed praised the 4-H Club, a youth development organisation, saying it prioritised agriculture and leadership and worked with various ministries, including Agriculture and Education, as well as the Tobago House of Assembly.

On his thoughts overall on the budget, particularly regarding the agriculture sector, Mohammed said, “Given that the food-production and nutrition-security sectors depend on our collective efforts, the budgetary allocation for agriculture is adequate.”