Farmers Outreach Program in Oropouche West

The Ministry of Food Production hosted its Farmers Outreach Program in the constituency of Oropouche West on Wednesday 10th April 2013, at SANSEC in San Francique. Present were various divisions of the Ministry as well as agencies such as ADB and NAMDEVCO who were able to assist farmers with their concerns.

Member of Parliament for Oropouche West, the Hon Stacy Roopnarine, in her address to the farmers encouraged them to look at farming as a business, and not only reap and sell their produce but also look at ways to develop other products from it and create their own brand. She also appealed to them to urge more young people to get involved in farming as she noted that at one point the Oropouche basin used to be the food basket of Trinidad and Tobago. She felt that in order to get back to that point, more young people needed to get involved in Agriculture as many farmers were now seniors.

Minister Roopnarine also stated that it was the first time farmers in this region were given an opportunity to come to one location where they can access all services of the Ministry. She expressed gratitude to Minister Maharaj and the Ministry officials for bringing the program directly to the farmers as she lamented that farmers were often very busy tending to their produce or animals and was often difficult to tear them away from that to deal with Administrative matters or other matters hampering their development.

It was only at the end of last year that the Ministry officials first came to host a consultation in the constituency of Oropouche West with the Hon Jairam Seemungal, who later toured the constituency as they met first hand with the farmers in the field. The farmers present were thankful for the opportunity to continue to work closely with the Ministry to resolve their concerns.