Beginning the Exploration of Agriculture in Trinidad and Tobago

One of my latest projects relates to what my father left for me - approximately 93 acres of land in Dow Village, Trinidad. Of those 93 acres, 47.355 acres are completely unused - and with the global food prices on the rise with less and less food available, one thing I have been considering is getting into farming. Imagine that. While everyone is getting out of agriculture, I'm considering diving into agriculture. As such, I've been doing some of my own research on the ground and on the web. I could simply turn around and sell it - there are people interested in buying - but then, there is the matter of what is best in the long term. With food prices going up, the long term gives me an intuitive feel for farming not only being more profitable in the long term but also better for the planet as a whole. It is a daunting proposition, not to be taken lightly by any stretch.

At present, many tenants on adjoining parcels of land are farming short term crops - lettuce, tomatoes, green peppers and other crops. I've been told that the soil is high in the clay used for porcelain as well, but I am leery to go digging up land to export pieces of porcelain - especially with the Toruba River running through a part of the land.

The Local Research

The first stop for researching Agriculture in Trinidad and Tobago should be the Ministry of Agriculture, Land and Marine Resources. The site seems incomplete, but a list of incentives is available on the site and would facilitate some investment in equipment and development of the land for agricultural purposes¹. Given that today's Trinidad Express points out that Trinidad's notable acreage of agricultural lands in the Caroni area is depleted and needs a lot of treatment, it would seem that usage for land for agriculture is of importance to the country.

As luck would have it, I already have my farmer's license - and I bumped into a former student of mine who actually works with the Ministry of Agriculture and who is pointing me to the right places on the ground to get information that I need to explore the topic properly on the viability of this land use.

Another acquaintance pointed out to me yesterday that labor would be a problem. Sure, I could handle a few acres by myself, but we're not talking about a few acres. With labor as it is in Trinidad and Tobago, it would be difficult to find dependable people to help with a lot of these things. On the flip side, I do have a tendency to use technology to my advantage for automating many things - but there are only so many things to be automated. Further, problems of praedial larceny (theft) are an issue - but not just theft of crops. There is also the theft of equipment, as this article in today's Trinidad Express demonstrates. Some farmers are considering formal protest. In fact, from this article:

...Khan said because of the problem a number of farmers in the Carlsen Field area had abandoned agriculture production.

"The high cost to produce and being unable to make a profit from their labour because of people stealing their produce have turned to construction and government-run programmes such as CEPEP."...

There is risk in the agricultural industry that are not well mitigated by law enforcement. On the ground, I have it on good authority that farmers in the environs of my land have been staying up and catching thieves, perhaps softening them up before the police arrive or not (not really my affair). Even so, I have spoken with people who have lost pumps for irrigation as well as actual produce - and such things not only are expensive, they are also needed in a timely manner to preserve and allow the continued production of crops.

So security is a large issue - one which could be handled with appropriate alarms on the land via trip wires and motion sensors. But is it worth the cost? With gun licenses being as difficult to obtain as they are now, even two legged pests that are not well documented on the Ministry of Agriculture's website are likely to be better armed than farmers. A quick trip to Cedros or other bays in South Trinidad can easily net someone an illegal weapon. Word has it that I could bribe my way to a weapon's permit, as could anyone else, but I like the straight and narrow - even when the straight and narrow brings up challenges like this.

On the ground, farmers handle praedial larceny in the area pretty well - but even so, they do note that it has been escalating. Of course it has. Food prices are going up. Petty theft is a way of life for some, and the latest commodity seems to be fresh produce.

Beyond security, there are other uses of technology that are possible. For example, solar panels in conjunction with pumps could be set up to irrigate daily - choice of crops could be done in conjunction with soil testing, and crop rotation could also be done with the use of technology. All of these require investment.

And security of equipment and produce remains a question. How much is it worth, what could be done to mitigate the risk of these issues? And if I am asking this question, one has to wonder how farmers in Trinidad and Tobago deal with it on a daily basis. Their risk mitigation is vigilance, as it would be my own. Vigilance in a country with increasing food prices, crime out of control and a government which, for all intents and purposes, seems to be oblivious to the fact that when soldiers are given the right to arrest, things might be a little out of hand.

More research needed for the big decisions.

¹Why the incentives are available in Microsoft Word format, I must openly wonder why such simple documents are not plainly available in HTML. I must also wonder why the site does not seem to be complete at this time.

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