A BRIEF COMPARISON OF THE UNC ECONOMIC TRANSFORMATION PLAN 2020 AND THE PNM MANIFESTO REGARDING AGRO-PROCESSING AND IMPORT
SUBSTITUTION
The PNM has finally admitted that it has done very little towards diversification. Their manifesto confesses that “…COVID-19 has thus shown us that we can no longer afford to put all our eggs on one basket or pay lip service to economic diversification…”. Rowley also admits that the PNM paid “lip service” to diversifying the economy.
The PNM now wants to “…move swiftly to harness local talent and capacity to stimulate and develop other industries and sectors…”. Is Rowley reading the UNC’s Plan which outlines twelve prosperity engines?
The UNC Economic Transformation Plan 2020 (the Plan) will generate economic activity, employment, training programs, increased demand for local goods and services, export opportunities, tourism, construction activity, research and development. The Plan will attract both local and foreign investment.
The UNC’s Plan, published long before the PNM Manifesto, has included carefully studied areas based on the productive capacity of our resources, including our citizens. The Plan considers the numerous unemployed young people with various levels of education.
These young people are willing to become involved in innovative industries, that can cause them not only to be meaningfully employed, and adapt their knowledge to business sectors that can propel the country into economic transformation.
The Plan caters for those ready to become involved in this aspect of nation building and welcomes all. The Plan will also address training opportunities to be implemented at UWI and UTT that will prepare persons for early employment. The platitude of graduating and then seeking employment must and will be changed. The Plan will identify potential jobs and shortlist young persons contingent on completing training within a specific timeframe.
The PNM had the past five years of their version of governance in which they were unable to implement any of what they now list in their manifesto. Their strategy appears to be one in which they make broad statements that can cover anything their supporters ask for.
For example, industries the PNM targets for growth include agriculture, especially import substitution and agro-processing. Yet the PNM criticizes the UNC when the Political Leader speaks of restarting sugar manufacturing and establishing an agro-processing complex.
In 2019 Trinidad and Tobago imported approximately 182 million TTD of sugar. The UNC targets import substitution and food security. Restarting the sugar industry will contribute to: reduced demand for foreign exchange; import substitution; food security; employment creation; and use of idle resources. Use of new varieties of sugar cane and modern manufacturing technology will change the approach to the sugar industry, and will follow countries such as Brazil and India, that have successfully embraced innovative approaches to the sugar industry. New varieties of sugar cane will derive a yield per acre of more than the 20 tons that prevailed when Caroni (1975) Ltd was closed.
New technology would make one ton of sugar from less than the thirteen tons of cane (considered inefficient in year 2000). Sugar manufacturing at St. Madeline would also provide molasses and bagasse that can be used for animal feed and for making biodegradable food containers. Restart of the sugar industry would also provide opportunities for private farmers that numbered approximately 2300 in year 2000. These employed a further 6000 persons.
The UNC’s Plan for agriculture, agro-processing and import substitution also promotes the establishment of the Brechin Castle Agro-processing Complex. This facility will support exports by identifying markets, providing food technologists and equipment, conducting research and training entrepreneurs to meet all aspects of the export market including: phytosanitary conditions; packaging; preservatives/additives; labelling and shipping. A one-brand strategy that brings the products of several manufacturers under one label will also assist exporters to meet the quantities and frequency of supply of a specific product that the export market demands. This Complex will create a planned demand for local produce that will also allow farmers to produce in response to a demand forecast.
Training institutes will be guided to develop training programmes in response to demand for specific skill sets at the Complex. Research and innovation will be aimed at creating new products that respond to demand in export markets The foregoing are ideas that the UNC has been developing in its vision for agro-processing.
Import substitution must address food security. Therefore the UNC will look at returning to cultivating rice – an industry shut down after 2015. In 2019, the country imported approximately 126 million TTD worth of rice. The average citizen consumes rice daily.
What is the PNM’s plan for food security? The UNC will look at new methods of cultivation and new technology for milling for rice production. Rice need not be grown in lagoons.
There must be a paradigm shift that makes agriculture, agro-processing and food security important, with plans more meaningful than the basal and superficial statement of the PNM.
Does the PNM have any idea of what their statement on agriculture means? And, why hasn’t their ‘champion’ for agriculture implemented their policies during the past five years? The PNM acts as if it is a party now hoping to get into government and has come up with these ideas.
After nearly fifty years in total of myopic governance, the PNM suddenly wakes up to understand that the UNC has a Plan, leadership, and the people to drive that Plan – a Plan that Trinidad and Tobago urgently needs.
Dr. Reynold Baldeosingh
via email