SUNDAY 13TH MARCH, 2016 – UWI TODAY
7
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 fewpages,
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
Pathways toDiversification
The Economic Recession
The
Eggs
in the
BASKET
A look at some
of the pathways
to diversification
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 ofMechanical andManufacturing 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 gratingmachines that can be used to process cassava
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.
flour fromwhat is being farmed inMoruga. 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 andDr. 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)
