As the weight of an economic recession has begun to settle on the shoulders of a Trinidad and Tobago that had grown merrily accustomed to the virtues and vices of plenty, the foolhardiness of putting all our eggs into an oily basket has become even more stark.
Since the halcyon days of the first oil boom popped open greedy eyes that saw little besides the heady power of consumption, we have squandered every opportunity to diversify the economy. Through slumps and highs over the years, many voices have implored the State to empower other sectors to grow by providing incentives and concessions to build fledgling industries and innovative ideas into viable sources of income and employment.
Policies have been written, research has been done, cases have been made for a variety of industries to be developed, but while they may have been heartily approved, they haven’t been implemented. In essence, those voices have been ignored.
In the next few pages, UWI TODAY gathers some of the thoughts of members of The UWI community on possible pathways to diversification.
“To repeat my mantra, economic diversification is priority one, two and three, says economist Indera Sagewan-Alli. “There are no quick fixes to this and it is not an exercise in volunteerism or one where clear responsibility and accountability are difficult to trace. It is also not rocket science and there are many success stories for us to be guided by. It is a full time job needing the requisite expertise resourced and dedicated to the task of determining through robust analysis the areas of focus.”
She is joined by the indefatigable Head of the Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, Professor Boppana Chowdary, who continues to plod towards getting investors interested in what we can create locally.
“We are targeting specific sectors like agriculture to show what we can do. For example, we are working on cassava grating machines that can be used to process cassava flour from what is being farmed in Moruga. This will enable farmers and the community entrepreneurs to sell a finished product to stores and bakeries.”
The Minister of Agriculture, Clarence Rambharat, has spoken of the untenable situation of a food import bill that is around $4 billion, and an agricultural sector barely contributing .5% of our GDP. He declares his intention to transform this sector into an Economic Growth Sector by making it “strong, modern, prosperous and competitive.” Among the sectors planned for growth is the cocoa industry and with the fairly new Cocoa Development Company of Trinidad and Tobago Ltd, there is obvious need for the involvement of The UWI’s Cocoa Research Centre.
Dean of the Faculty of Food and Agriculture, Isaac Bekele shares some of the plans for the development of the agricultural sector and talks about his idea that UWI’s role “is to provide scientific and technological support to the region.”
Three practitioners from the creative industries – Carver Bacchus, Danielle Dieffenthaller and Dr. Suzanne Burke – describe their journeys towards sustainably developing their careers in these areas, and show that it is possible to overcome the stereotype of the struggling artist.
However we do it, the imperative is clear: in these recessionary times, we must take our eggs out of that one basket.
(Vaneisa Baksh, Editor) |
