Rice shortage real or created.

Over the past two months I watched in amazement the attitude of Trinidadians towards their favorite staple “Rice’.

People have been scrambling to buy as much rice as possible. Most supermarkets have placed signs indicating a maximum amount that can be purchased.

I remember in the late seventies (1970s) the government invested heavily in  a rice mill situated in Carlsen Field (a deactivated W.W.2 base in central Trinidad). The Ministry of Agriculture invited Japanese rice experts to assist local rice farmers in increasing there rice production. These Japanese experts assisted in repairing the existing sluice gates and installed new ones.

Today  thirty odd years after, the local rice production figures are at an all time low. The sluice gates are no longer functioning and the seawater have damaged many acres of once fertile paddy lands. We are at the mercy of Brazilian and Guyanese rice exporters who are holding back rice exports to guarantee that they receive higher prices.

One local rice importer said that with every new shipment entering the country the price is escalating. We are a nation of rice lovers and as one person said ” the cost of local ground provision (dasheen, eddoes. sweet potatoes etc.) rice and flour is still cheaper”.

Very interesting so we are stuck with buying rice maybe until the price of rice is higher than the price of local ground provision.

Maybe we might see the advent of some new recipes, I wonder if we would be able to make a pelau with out rice. I don’t think that is possible so we Trinis will buy our rice no matter what price it reaches.

Food Crisis in Trinidad & Tobago?

Listening to our beloved Prime Minister Patrick Manning and his Minister of Agriculture. I am wondering what is really happening in Trinidad. To the majority of us we have been experiencing sharp increases in basic food prices since 2007. The government says that inflation is at present under 10%. Many of us believe that the true figure is around 17% and climbing. The official excuse is that we have to brace ourselves for more increases as its a world crisis.

Lets take a look at what is really happening. Over the past 40 years we have ignored agriculture and past governments have all to carry this blame. The governments over the years have played lip service to food production. Farmers have not been given title to land that they have been working in some instances for many decades and as a result they have not been able to access finance and government grants. Access roads are virtually non existant. Irrigation channels and flood drains are not cleared although the government has budgeted millions of dollars under these subitems.

Then it leads to the next question ” What has been done with all that money?” The ministry of agriculture like many other government ministries are staffed with individuals who are not capable of doing the jobs that they are hired to do. These technocrats are just plain idiots. A simple thing like assisting farmers so that they can produce more food seems to be more difficult than sending a rocket to the moon.

When I was a young person in the 1960s and 70s there was many agricultural programs in schools. I attended a suburban school. In almost all of the Government secondary schools agricultural science was part of the syllabus and there I obtained basic knowledge about growing food. Then there was the 4HYFC – 4 H Young Farmers Club this organisation gave us the opportunity to meet with students from rural areas in Trinidad and also it encouraged exchanges between locals and North American 4Hers. The learning curve was immense.

Now lets get back to today and the “FOOD CRISIS”. What can we do? MMMMM will we give up eating pressure fried chicken and chips and buying “box food” We Trinis have an overflowing love relationship with buying cooked food. The kitchen in most people homes are only used to hot purchased food in the microwave. A lot of us cannot cook. How long will we continue to be able to afford to buy cooked food.

The price of Rice and flour is rising every day and along with that the cost of local root crops like dasheen, cassava and the likes are more expensive than flour and rice. so using local substitute will cost you more. Then what can we do.

As I am writing this piece the price of eggs have gone up to $12.00 (TT). Imagine a bake and shark in Maracas is now $25.00 (TT) thats madness imagine a family spending the day by the beach and having to spend $200.00 for bake and shark. A doubles is now $4.00(TT) and a good roti is between $18.00 – $24.00(TT).

At times I think that we are either very rich or very stupid. Why I am saying this is because as food prices rise thousands of Trinis flock to our many prestige restaurants daily so is there really a problem in Trinidad with rising food prices. Only time will tell.