MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE Dr David Estwick has given an assurance that products that can be grown locally will not be imported.
Speaking last night at a National Consultation On Food And Agriculture at Princess Margaret Secondary School, he said that as long as he was the minister he would go to Cabinet to ensure that items that could be grown locally would not be imported.
“Where there is a production cycle and we have evidence that we can produce the majority, we will utilize the CARICOM model under the Revised Treaty Of Chaguaramas that makes it quite clear that within the context of Caricom, no produce can be imported into the Caricom region unless you have first applied to COTED [Council For Trade And Economic Development] and it is a demonstration that one country or the other has the capacity not to produce the amount you would want,” he added.
Before an audience that included chairman of the National Agricultural Commission, Dr Chelston Brathwaite, and Acting Chief Agricultural Officer Ralph Farnum, the minister said the national consultation on a white paper for agriculture was a positive step for the industry.
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