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The economy of Trinidad and
Tobago is dominated by the petroleum industry and is
therefore very susceptible to external shocks
induced by movements in energy prices. This reality
has signified the need for economic diversification
hence the national economic policy and strategy
place great emphasis on growth of the non-oil
foreign exchange earning and relatively
labour-intensive sectors of the economy, such as
tourism, agriculture, agro-processing, and financial
services.
Primary agriculture is an economically small but
socially important sector and accounts for 16.7% of
the land area. Agriculture, is small in its
contribution to GDP (1.02% in 2004), but a
significant employer (5.0% of employed persons) and
key to the rural socio-economy. Agro-industries
(food, beverage and tobacco) are a significant
segment of national GDP (3.1% in 2004) and
manufacturing GDP (45.2%). The country is a net food
importer but a net exporter of beverages and tobacco
products.
The agriculture sector has been in relative
decline for several decades and declined in absolute
(real) terms in 2003 and 2004. The decline has been
attributed to external factors identified as:
economic structural transformation, ‘Dutch disease,
and changes in the global trading environment while
domestic constraints have been identified as weak
research, extension and marketing systems,
inadequate area under irrigation, flooding and
praedial larceny.
The country is taking steps to redevelop the
sector and has proposed interventions within the
framework of the National 20/20 vision plan. The
core implementation strategy advanced emphasizes the
need to increase productivity, profitability and
competitiveness through (a) adoption of improved
technologies, varieties and new commodities, (b)
improving efficiency and effectiveness of marketing
and agricultural health and food safety systems, and
(c) linkages with agro-industry. The core strategy
is complemented by efforts to reduce constraints of
infrastructure, land tenure, credit and production
risk.
The programmed interventions for addressing the
above constraints are contained within the 5-year
National Medium Term Investment Plan with overall
objectives to increase farm profitability and
international competitiveness, expansion of the
Irrigated Area under cultivation ,strengthening the
Marketing System and Linkages to Demand Centres,
improving effectiveness, efficiency and productivity
of the infrastructure and systems for (i) research,
(ii) extension, (iii) training, and (iv)
agricultural health and food safety, support to
Agricultural Planning and developing alternatives
Strategies for productive and profitable use of
agricultural land including a specific focus on
unused sugar land, reduce risk from praedial larceny
and more effective participation of industry and
farmer organizations
These national priorities and objectives are
compatible with the objectives of the Jagdeo
Initiative for repositioning the Region’s
agriculture and rural sectors. Further,
opportunities exist for Trinidad and Tobago to
benefit from the regional, hemispheric and
international and partnerships with the Caribbean
Fisheries Regional Mechanism (CRFM), the UN FAO-led
National Medium Term Investment Profiles (NMTIP),
the Summit of the Americas Agriculture Agenda 2015
and to fulfill its obligations under the UN
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), especially
Goals 1, 3, 7 and Goals 8.
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1 Extracted from the National Medium
Term Priority Framework for FAO Assistance –
Trinidad and Tobago Draft document, 2006.
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