Part II

In my last article I stated that there are four areas in which support for the agricultural sector has been traditionally provided by the Government: (1) research; (2) training of farmers and agricultural scientists; (3) extension services; and (4) diagnosis of diseases and pests and soil analysis. I then started a discussion of research.

Research

It is difficult to conduct research in a bureaucratic organisation (government department). I shall give an example of these difficulties. Some years ago I visited the Ministry of Agriculture's Central Experiment Station (CES) to obtain analysis of soil samples for the nutrient status. I was told that I could obtain the results for some but not all of the elements because of a breakdown of analytical equipment due to the fact that the air-conditioning equipment had failed and no funds were available for its repair.

In 2008 the total expenditure on research in this country was $72.4 million of which $42.9 million was on agricultural research (data from Niherst). When Trinidad and Tobago is recording research as a percentage of GDP (0.04 in 2008), that figure is contributed to largely by agriculture, the total figure being in any case low in this country. This compares with other countries: Caribbean: Cuba (2008) – 0.49 per cent; Jamaica (2002) – 0.06 per cent; St Vincent and the Grenadines (2002) – 0.15 per cent; some other countries (UNESCO estimates 2009): Israel – 4.7 per cent; Japan – 3.4 per cent; US – 2.6 per cent;UK – 1.8 per cent; China – 1.5 per cent; Brazil – 1 per cent; Mexico – 0.5 per cent. But much of the work at CES is service work and not research! This needs to be noted when the Minister Mary King's "Diamond" is being discussed since an important component is research leading to innovation and entrepreneurship.

Training of farmers and

agricultural scientists

The training of farmers and agricultural scientists has been shared between a training college, formerly the Eastern Caribbean Farm Institute which is now the Eastern Caribbean Institute of Agriculture and Forestry (ECIAF), and the Imperial College of Tropical Agriculture (ICTA) which became the University of the West Indies (UWI).

ECIAF has been under the direct control of the Government and is financed out of the annual budget. Although students have come from other Caricom countries (at a subsidised cost) the funds for running ECIAF have come from this country. ECIAF is now a part of the University of Trinidad and Tobago (UTT). Funds for the agriculture programme at UWI are part of the university budget but since the majority of the UWI agriculture students have been from this country the greater part of the agriculture budget comes from this country. Nevertheless it is important to note that UWI is a regional institution under the control of 16 governments.

The UWI degree has a very good reputation locally and internationally. It has a strong science base and can lead to higher degrees in many areas of agricultural science. Very few of the UWI graduates become farmers but mainly go into government service in the Ministry of Agriculture or related government-sponsored organisations. Some go into non-agricultural areas of endeavour and are often very successful.

ECIAF has offered a two-year diploma in agricultural technology and has had an excellent reputation in the past, particularly in the Eastern Caribbean countries from which many of the students have come. Within recent years it has been somewhat neglected and there are fewer students from the Eastern Caribbean. ECIAF also offers a diploma in Forestry and most Caribbean forestry department heads are graduates of ECIAF.

A few years ago UTT set up a committee (of which I was chairman) to give advice on the future of its agricultural activities. The committee consisted of retired and current staff of UWI (including the then dean of engineering, Prof Clement Sankat, now principal of the UWI, St Augustine campus) as well as persons from the private sector. Persons from the Ministry of Agriculture were co-opted from time to time and a number of persons from the agricultural sector were consulted.

I quote from some of the recommendations of that committee which were accepted by Government in 2006:

"The committee has strongly recommended that UTT does indeed have a fundamental and important role to play in the development of the nation's food and agriculture sector.

"The committee's primary recommendation is that UTT should proceed to establish an Institute of Food and Agriculture (IFA) (UTT has since named it Bio-sciences, Food and Agricultural Technology). It proposes that this should be a technology based institution aimed at graduating young people with a practical technological tertiary level education, relevant to today's farming and agriculture sector: IFA graduates would be "farm ready" farmers.

"It is suggested that the IFA be modelled along the lines of the USA "land grant colleges", with direct and complementary involvement in teaching, research and extension, guided by a strong institutional mission. It should seek to address the complete supply chain, from primary agricultural production through crop handling and food processing to the production of finished goods.

"It is proposed that the IFA should be located in the Centeno area of north Trinidad, on a new campus situated on lands currently occupied by the Government's Central Experiment Station (CES) and the Eastern Caribbean Institute of Agriculture and Forestry, both of these entities being subsumed into IFA.

"The Sugarcane Feeds Centre (SFC) should be merged into the IFA as well as the Biotechnology (Food Technology) Unit of the Caribbean Industrial Research Institute (CARIRI).

"There needs to be close collaboration between UTT and UWI so as to avoid unnecessary duplication. Thus UWI will continue to train agricultural scientists to enter into research whereas UTT will produce in the main technologists and well-educated farmers. Wherever possible there should be the sharing of facilities and the reciprocity of credits for courses. Collaboration in research and the supervision of post-graduate students should take place." To be continued

•John Spence is Professor Emeritus, UWI. He also served as an Independent Senator. The John Spence column returns to its regular Thursday space next week.