An Aversion to Diversification

Hydrocarbons killed the agriculture star.

To paraphrase The Buggles song (if you’re below a certain age you know what to do, Youtube is awaiting your command) and try to encapsulate the grave error of our ways, which is now coming back to bite us.

What does it say about a nation’s mentality when it inherits a fully functioning infrastructure that allows it to feed itself, in a land overflowing with natural resources, that then chooses to eliminate that self-sufficiency?

There is the timing factor, there is the historical factor and then there is a straightforward case of ‘never see, come see’. They are all intertwined.

T&T gained independence in an era of elevated consciousness across Third World nations, indeed the push for independence was driven in no small part by said consciousness. But awareness can be misinterpreted, especially when unprecedented financial windfalls land on the nation’s lap, creating distraction and clouding judgement.

Therefore, the combination of colonial cognizance and oil revenue suddenly made the agricultural sector an unwanted reminder of the colonial days, with the vile origins of the slave trade.

Suddenly, we had the money to let someone else do the farming - to buy our food from foreign – because in case you didn’t know, we reach!

It did not happen overnight, but relatively speaking, the erosion of the large agriculture sector happened very quickly. Much like the prospects that we now face with seeing the finish line of our own hydrocarbon reserves, there was not even thought for a meaningful replacement. With the end of the sugar industry and the innuendo of it being partially motivated by racial issues, there should have been a meaningful replacement, certainly for a sense of substantial self-sufficiency and partially for creating more export revenue from some of the most arable land on the planet.

Recessions came and went, yet T&T did not learn the lessons. Instead, it remained determined to beat the hydrocarbon horse all the way to the finish line. Now, the fervent hope is that the dragon becomes the replacement for the horse.

Regardless, the current Forex furore is the writing on the wall. This nation must lose its aversion to diversifying the economy, to start earning foreign exchange by exploiting the multitude of opportunities that lay before the population.? ??

For decades, budget speeches and reviews contain the words ‘economic diversification’ or ‘transitioning the economy’. For decades, nothing meaningful has occurred to give credence to those idealistic keywords.

Various political parties claim to have plans for diversification, but nothing is ever implemented. Remember the grandeur of the super farming project, to make us more self sufficient and cut the foreign food bill?

Well, that bill is now trending at over $7 Billion with not even a whisper of any intention to address the problem by helping to create local replacement products and encourage the behavioural changes to consume them.

It comes down to the mindset because it’s not only that we reach (once again), but we also plan on staying here.

We know too much to be in this position, our greatest resource – ourselves – does not need a dire Forex situation to prompt us into recognizing the need for meaningful diversifying action. T&T is behaving like a department store that only sells one product, while the rest of the floorspace and shelves remain empty. Then once we sell that sole product, we go to another department store and spend it all, while also asking for credit.

This column has tirelessly advocated the need to get smart about utilizing our agricultural sector, growing crops that we can consume to address the food bill issue, while also growing high profit, high demand crops such as coconuts, cocoa and marijuana, for export.

Other sectors with huge potential also need the superintelligence approach. Does it make sense to try to take the great leap forward with tourism by building mass concrete hospitality structures, when Mother Nature has given us readymade eco-tourism sites? It makes little sense to copy other tourist destinations instead of championing the uniqueness of an island like Tobago. We cannot compete on those terms.

Carnival also has incredible untapped potential. Currently it is a magnificent, beautiful behemoth of a festival, yet it is still only enjoyed by Trinbagonians and people that have links to Trinbagonians. We have not claimed it on the global scale, because we have not had to, until now. When our Caribbean neighbours can go into their banks and get thousands of US dollars and we are given $200 and a “hard luck”, then it’s time to explore other revenue options.? ?

Nations with thousands more energy reserves than T&T began diversifying their economies decades ago. When Saudi Arabia starts thinking of alternatives for its future, its time to recognize the need to get proactive. Diversification of the economy is not going to spring up from the ground like the oil and natural gas did, we have to create it.

Every manifesto for the 2025 election needs to contain more than mere generalizations about diversifying the economy and self-sufficiency. The figures don’t lie and in 2024, those figures are TT $7 Billion to eat and US $2,000 to spend. The former seems to have no limit and the latter is very limiting. ?

There is only one economic option for T&T and we must lose our aversion to it.

?

Sheldon Waithe is the Creative Director at Communique Media Services Ltd website: communiquett.com

?

?

?

?

?????

?