New Locally Grown Foods

[LadyDeath]

Alot of people still think that some foreign food cannot be grown in Trinidad, however, nowadays the local market has been flooded with these foods such as local Kale, Broccoli, Carrots, Yellow Watermelons, Sweet Corn, Strawberries etc.
The reason why we don't grow them in abundance and some local farmers have taken up the task is because they are very hard to maintain and labour intensive. The reason why we import these foods is because it is more expensive to grow here and cheaper to just import it .
Our government keeps on bringing down foreign farmers to train locals in hopes of diversifying the local market with new fruits and veggies but they just cannot afford the high price of cultivating them.

Small plants are available at plant nurseries all around Trinidad .


Do you think we should try to grow new fruits and veggies, or keep on importing them because its cheaper ?

What can the government do to encourage farmers to grow these produce?

 

[Shadowhunter]

The Ministry of Agriculture/Food Production already offers subsidies to local farmers. However, many do not know this and there are those that are aware of this and do not take advantage of this aid because they do not trust official or government things.

I think for the added labor and maintenance required to grow foreign produce, farmers should be offered more aid than the standard subsidies if they are not already. There are grants that farmers can apply for to purchase equipment, the existing subsidies I know of can cover fertilizers and pesticides at the very least, and I am sure there are many other incentives that are not well known.

I also think the government should push incentives for people to choose local ingredients supplied by our farmers rather than to buy similar imported ingredients.

 

[LadyDeath]

On the Trini Gardeners Group On Facebook there are many people planting their strawberries, kale and herbs such as Lavender , Rosemary, Dill etc. because they cannot get it fresh locally. I also think that there is a high demand for foreign foods due to westernization of our culture and if someone took this idea of growing them locally, alot of profit can be made.

 

[Shadowhunter]

I agree. Many of us have cable and/or internet access and the majority of food videos and articles we come across are from foreign countries using foreign produce. To them, it may be local, but to us it becomes a necessary import. I do see highlights of local cuisine here and there but I think there are many ways to use local produce in the kitchen that are frequently overlooked. Pushing a message for local produce as well as locally grown foreign produce can be emphasized through those very same mediums.