Transcript Document 7331881

CARONI INITIATIVE FOR FOOD
PRODUCTION
Presented by
Christine Sahadeo
Restructuring of Caroni(1975)ltd
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•
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•
Priority access of 2 acre plots- 7248
Late applications of approximately 1100
Introduced approx.15000 acres of land
Tenancies regularized re cane farmers12000acres
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CARONI (1975) LIMITED
• RECONFIGURATION - LAND UTILIZATION POST
AUGUST 2003
• AS COMPARED TO CONFIGURATION – LAND
UTILIZATION PRE-AUGUST 2003
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RECONFIGURATION - LAND UTILIZATION POST AUGUST 2003
PRE AUGUST
2003
POST AUGUST
2003
Acreage
%
Acreage
35.40%
-
-
%
1 Sugarcane
27,081
2 Agricultural
4,222
5.50% 4,222
5.50%
3328
4.30% 3317
4.30%
Squatters
3 Citrus/Tree crops
4 Rice – Irrigated and 4,000
Rain Fed
5.20%
4,000
5.20%
5 Livestock and
Pasture
5.50%
3,767
4.90%
4,175
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RECONFIGURATION - LAND UTILIZATION POST AUGUST 2003
PRE AUGUST 2003 POST AUGUST 2003
Acreage
6
Aquaculture
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Lands for
284
-
%
0.40%
-
Acreage
%
25
0.03%
20,319
26.50%
11,861
15.50%
Agriculture - VSEP
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Existing Tenants
11,861
15.50%
9
Four 100 acre
Model Farms
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-
400
0.50%
10 PCS Nitrogen
-
-
75
0.10%
Sub Total
54,951
47,986
62.53%
71.80%
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RECONFIGURATION - LAND UTILIZATION POST AUGUST 2003
12 Residual
Final Total
PRE AUGUST
2003
POST AUGUST
2003
Acreage
Acreage
%
6,803.73
9.00%
%
10,694
14.00%
76,608
100.00% 76,608
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100.00%
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Solution to food inflation
• Inflation now stands at 15.4%
• Food inflation-major catalyst of headline
inflation
• Expansion of domestic food supply
• Vibrant local agricultural sector
• Expansion of the acreage under food
cultivation
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Support provided to former
employees/cane farmers
• Special concession whereby all former workers
and cane farmers registered as farmers with
the Ministry of Agriculture, Land and Marine
Affairs- ( MALMA)
• Access to Agricultural Incentive Programme
• Regularization and of the status of 6000 sugar
cane farmers who had tenancies or were
squatting on state lands
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Support provided to farmers
• Reduction in lease premiums to $200 per 2
acre plot per annum
• Concessionary arrangements including
reduced interest rates by the Agricultural
Development Bank
• Training in agriculture and other technical
areas.
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Low ratio of cultivated acreage
• 326.5 acres out of the total acreage of 15,000
acres – a ratio of 2.2 percent.
• To date only 404 beneficiaries are actively
involved in which 241 is involved in land
preparation and 163 in cultivation of
products as follows:
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Cultivated Acreage
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•
•
•
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•
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•
•
cassava
sweet potato
peas
pumpkin
pepper
ochro
pineapple
tomatoes
eddoes
mixed crops
total acreages
59.70
68.00
32.00
18.25
21.75
16.50
16.50
22.00
15.75
55.55
326.00
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ISSUES
• Many of the former Caroni Workers were not
farmers and require additional support
• The lands of Caroni are not fertile and have
high levels of acidity, which requires soil
testing and remedial work to determine
selection of crop best suited to soil type.
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ISSUES
• Extension support services provided by
MALMR is inadequate and cannot support
such a large influx of new farmers.
• Training required in the area of:
Soil Management
Basic equipment maintenance
Crop rotation
Use of R+D and new technology
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ISSUES
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Inadequate infrastructure
Agricultural Product Insurance
Praedial Larceny
Inadequate support for farmers to move along
the value chain
• Need for planned production and marketing
of produce
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ISSUES
• Support for the marketing of national
agricultural products, to promote national
food labels and national branding
• Provision of increased financial support for
local producers in the form of Micro credit
and Small Grant programs for small and
medium enterprises as farmers encouraged to
move along the value chain
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Direct individual support to 7500 farmers is
fraught with many challenges
• Difficulty in providing training and support
individually because of a large number of new
farmers
• Many of these new farmers have limited knowledge
and expertise in agriculture
• Difficult to develop and implement a production
schedule based on the needs of the market
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Direct individual support to 7500 farmers is
fraught with many challenges
• Unscheduled planning and production will
result in glut and shortages and wide
fluctuations in prices
• Farming by individual 2 acre plots will result in
high cost and unable to take advantage of
economies of scale
• Not supportive of moving along the value
chain and maximizing gains
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Direct individual support to 7500 is fraught
with many challenges
• Inadequate volume to engage in direct
marketing that gives farmers higher margins
• Inadequate volume to engage in “guaranteed
markets” exports or niche markets
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Delivery Schedule for Agriculture Estates as at
March 11 2008
SITE NOS.
ESTATES
SECTION
NOS.
SUBDIVISIONS
NO. OF
APPLICANTS
NORTH
1
Orange
Grove
1
Orange
Grove
104
2
Caroni
2
Caroni
207
3
Jerningham
3
Jerningham
271
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Delivery Schedule cont’d
SITE NOS.
ESTATES
SECTION NOS. SUBDIVISIONS
NO. OF
APPLICANTS
CENTRAL
4
Edinburgh
4/5
Edinburgh
A/B
683
5
Felicity I
6
Felicity I
352
6
Felicity II
7
Felicity II
249
7
Waterloo I
8
Waterloo I
492
8
Waterloo II
9/10
Waterloo II
A/B
127
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Delivery Schedule cont’d
SITE NOS.
ESTATES
SECTION
NOS.
SUBDIVISIONS
NO. OF
APPLICANTS
CENTRAL
9
Exchange I
11/12
Exchange I
A/B
841
10
Exchange II
13/14
Exchange II
A/B
365
11
Montserrat I
15
Montserrat I
219
12
Montserrat II 16
Montserrat II 153
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Delivery Schedule cont’d
SITE NOS.
ESTATES
SECTION
NOS
SUBDIVISIONS
NO. OF
APPLICANTS
SOUTH
13
Reform
17/18/19
Reform
713
14
Cedar Hill
20/21/22
Cedar Hill
669
15
Petit Morne
23/24/25/29
Petit Morne
A/B/C/D
659
16
La Fortune/
Picton
26/27/28
La Fortune
A/B/C
804
17
La Gloria
30
La Gloria
340
TOTAL
7,248
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Thirteen (13) large farms
Orange Grove
100acres
267 acres
Caroni
Jerningham
Picton I
Picton II
Picton III
Picton iv
100 acres
108 acres
241 acres
224 acres
262 acres
267acres
Piston V
La Gloria I
La Gloria II
Edinburgh I
Edinburgh II
Edinburgh III
209 acres
162 acres
202acres
115 acres
114 acres
125 acres
Total
2129acres
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Justification for establishment of Community
Associations
• Community Associations are platforms where
farmers share knowledge on use of appropriate
technology, research and development
• Allows more effective training and sharing of
information
• Based on large volumes it allows direct marketing
which allows farmers more effective marketing and
pricing of produce
• Introduces economies of scale .
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Justification for establishment of Community
Associations
• Encourages and nurtures a business culture and
entrepreneurship
• Creates environment for producers to add value to certain
commodities in order to yield maximum gain.
• Community Associations also lends to the establishment of
Commodity Associations thereby introducing further
synergies.
• Requires less manual labour and affords greater
mechanization
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Role of The University of the West Indies – Faculty of
Agriculture and Management Studies
• 500 students registered
• 1966-present successful programs in agriculture, agribusiness
and entrepreneurship
• Provide solutions to technical problems faced by farmers
through Research & Development
• Extension services provided by MALMR should be in
collaboration with UWI to ensure farmers are kept up to date
with technology and R&D
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Role of The University of the West Indies –
Faculty of Agriculture and Management Studies
• UWI can assist in the establishment of
Community Associations and develop terms of
reference
• Can undertake all soil testing and based on
soil types assist in planning production
schedule
• Plan a training program that ensures all
farmers trained and updated with new
technology
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Role of The University of the West Indies –
Faculty of Agriculture and Management Studies
• Program to include assignment of students to
farms allowing for 2 way exchange of training
and education
• Development partnerships with graduates
• Curriculum restructuring
• Provide support to farmers in business
development and entrepreneurship. Assist
farmers in the preparation of business plans.
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Restructuring of the Agricultural Sector
• Success of the agricultural sector requires the
restructuring of the sector
• Implementation of National Agri- Business
Development Program
• Implementation of programs by several
agencies such as NAMDEVCO,ADB AND TTABA
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Restructuring of the Agricultural Sector
• Moving it from a large number of small
individuals, no technology and inefficient
marketing systems to a large number of small
and medium size agro entrepreneurs.
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Restructuring of the Agricultural Sector
 Create a highly organized industry by:
 Establishing community association
 Establishing Commodity Associations
 Formulating predictable contract
production and marketing systems
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Restructuring of the Agricultural Sector
 Building capacity of the sector
 use of best agricultural practices
 Building the human capital in the agricultural
sector at the professional, entrepreneurial and
labour level
 Improving the efficiency and competitiveness
of the local agricultural sector
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Restructuring of the Agricultural Sector
• A very important aspect of restructuring the
agricultural sector is ensuring a supply of
quality labour and training.
This will be achieved by:
 Ensuring new technology and R&D is made
available to farmers
 Training in use and application of fertilizers
through the education of the local farming
community.
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Restructuring of the Agricultural Sector
Training programs should include:
1. Agricultural Economies
2. Business Planning for Farmers
3. Crop Diversification
4. Basic Equipment Maintenance
5. Soil Management
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Trinidad and Tobago Agri-business
Association (TTABA)
 Responsible for the management of the NADP
 Establish supply agreement with supermarkets,
hotels
 Establish buyer agreements with buyer associations
 Farmers associations enter into production contracts
based on supply agreements
 Contracts at guaranteed prices – cost of production
plus a “fair profit margin”.
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Trinidad and Tobago Agri-Business Association
(TTABA)- Achievements
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500 acres under contract arrangements
Value added process has begun
Regular meetings with farmer’s groups
Established supply agreement with supermarkets,
hotels
 Negotiated production schedule and prices
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Implementation of the National Agri-Business
Development Programme
• Reposition the sector by moving it from the narrow focus on
primary agriculture to the broader context of agri-business
• Provide support to farmers to move along the value chain,
generating higher profits and build entrepreneurship
• Create linkages between agriculture, agro processing, food
manufacture
• Close collaboration and joint investment between public and
private sector
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NAMDEVCO- National Agricultural Marketing
and Development Company
• The establishment of this State Enterprise
was for the primary purpose of making
strategic interventions in the market place in
order to encourage improved and more
effective agricultural production, processing,
packaging and distribution and provide
guaranteed support to farmers.
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NAMDEVCO- National Agricultural Marketing
and Development Company
• These measures included:
• The provision of guaranteed prices for certain
agricultural products in times of surplus;
• Administration of guaranteed floor process for
target crops and a mechanism to ensure
targeted production through guaranteed floor
prices for targeted crops;
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NAMDEVCO- National Agricultural Marketing
and Development Company
• Setting up of agro-processing and export arrangements to
secure the sale of surplus crops, as well as to facilitate their
processing;
• The importation, in times of shortage, and with the consent of
the Minister of agriculture, of food items from regional and
extra-regional sources to maintain the stability of food prices
• Successful in recent times in communicating food prices and
the establishment of farmers’ markets
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Agricultural Development Bank
• The Government of Trinidad and Tobago (GORTT) has
mandated the ADB to be the facilitator in the planning
and development of a pilot Agricultural Insurance
Programme.
• The proposal is for the development of and
implementation of a pilot programme
• This should provide a tremendous boost to farmers and
provide an impetus for the revitalization of this industry.
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Agricultural Development Bank
• Provides loans to these new and emerging farmers at
preferential rates
• Security for loan is also offered at concessional
terms
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The Way forward
• We must see these challenges as opportunities and
develop creative solutions
• Critical success factor involves the partnership of:
– Government
– Private sector
– Tertiary level institutional support - UWI
• The current issue of food security has brought the
agricultural sector to the forefront in every country
and as a result governments must be innovative,
improve the sector competitiveness and ensure
sustained production.
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The University of the West Indies
• UWI is well positioned to lead the transformation of
this initiative
• Provides an opportunity for students in agriculture
to become engaged
• Congratulate the Dean , Faculty of Agriculture ,
Professor Dyer Narinesingh and other colleagues for
their genuine support and commitment in
supporting this intervention
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Thank You
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