TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO

Trinidad opposition: Government contributes to food crisis

Miami Herald staff report

Seems that not even oil-rich Trinidad and Tobago is being spared from the skyrocketing food prices hitting Caribbean grocery shelves.

The twin-island nation's opposition leader, Basdeo Panday, on Thursday accused Prime Minister Patrick Manning's government of contributing to a food crisis in the country, saying that it's time for it to get serious about food production.

''Trinidad and Tobago has begun to experience the signs of a food crisis in the ongoing scarcity of flour on local supermarket shelves. This is what the [United National Congress] and the population at large have been warning of when we demanded government place greater emphasis on agriculture. The country is reaping that which has been sown by its incompetent government,'' Panday, chairman of the UNC, said in a press statement.

The statement was issued in response to reports that there is a scarcity of flour on the market and the price will soon increase by another 39 percent.

The prime minister's office could not be reached for comment.

Panday blamed the problem on Prime Minister Patrick Manning's government, accusing it of jeopardizing Trinidad and Tobago's food security.

''The government has not been developing the agricultural sector and the related infrastructure. To the contrary, they have been chasing farmers off land and bulldozing bearing crops so they can build cheap houses,'' he said.

He went on to say Manning's government has never been interested in food production.

``What became of the public consultation on food prices held before the general election last year? Nothing! Because the Prime Minister slept through the event. High food prices [have] been a major concern for the population for some time now but for the past month the government has been obsessed with buying an executive jet so the PNM boys and girls can fly about in luxury.''

-- JACQUELINE CHARLES