Minister of Agriculture, Land and Fisheries Clarence Rambharat is hopeful the recently announced $100,000 agricultural grant will encourage farming of more indigenous crops.
The Minister was speaking at the Santa Rosa First Peoples School Rally at the national racquet centre on Wednesday.
Rambharat said the agriculture incentive grant, one of the measures announced in last Monday's budget, could reignite agricultural activity among the First Peoples community.
"There is a lot of talk about this thing they call organic foods but the First Peoples were the first organic farmers. In fact, you were the first farmers," said Rambharat.
"Agriculture has always been there, and you were the original organic farmers. It is something that now is a brand, it's a buzzword. Perhaps this agriculture incentive we have launched could be of value of you in building a first peoples organic brand of food," the Minister said.
In August, the First Peoples were granted 25 acres of land in Arima to create a heritage village and museum of their culture.
"The land, as far as I'm concerned, essentially belongs to you," said Rambharat, who stressed that the nation should continue to pay respect to the legacy of the First Peoples.
"We can't ups one morning and decide we gonna build a Trinidad and Tobago without recognising what we met when we came here. What we did with what we found and what we plan to do going into the future. We have to have respect for traditions, for values."
Earlier chief of the First Peoples Ricardo Bharath-Hernandez said the school rally, was geared towards educating the nation's youth about their history.
"There is so much to learn about our indigenous peoples, that I urge you as you go along and as you develop and as you go to higher forms in your education you will have the opportunity to dig deeper, to research more, to learn about our First Peoples and their contribution and their history," he said.
The rally is one of the events of First Peoples week, which will culminate in the celebration of First Peoples Day on Sunday.