PNM in Gov't(2015-2020)

[Paw Patrol]

So the best and blackest PM said shut yuh mouth.

How many seats are we seeing the PNM win in the next general election?

This Rowley guy gets me so gosh darn angry.

With his damn gravel throat

“Grrrrllllhuhhhhhhwwwwllllwwwwwwrrrlllll”

[tourniquet]

Anyone have a clip of him saying that?

[De Dragon]

Anyone have a clip of him saying that?

No, but Jetski have one where Rowley have him in a roast fowl..............

[Paw Patrol]

Anyone have a clip of him saying that?

No, but Jetski have one where Rowley have him in a roast fowl..............

I hear is actually an Alabama Hot Pocket

..yea urban dictionary it

[Trinispougla]

Which is vital for the country?
Something u never had, or SUMTING that could turn into bandits and result in more children away from school?



OK fine. Don't pay people for their service. Whey they're not at work they can drive on the pt fortain highway or the Toco highway, anytime they please, cause they will have nothing better to do.


*pnm country*

swear with your logic the unemployment rate is like 30% yes....steupps. I articulate my position again JA-MAI-CA spent ov-er 3 bill-ion on a toll road in the midst of an In-ter-nat-ion-al mo-net-ary fund ad-just-ment pro-gramme. See i broke it up into syllables for you. Economic activity cannot stop simply because of a recession patna

Trying the high horse approach by appearing to be smart i see.
Let me make it even simpler for you- You cannot raise taxes on an economy to get out of a MC recession.Raising the cost of living is not economic activity to be proud of.

Boy u hadda be de biggest dodo brain on 2ner. Who said anything about taxing as a mechanism to reaching prosperity. WHICH COUNTRY HAS DONE THAT? I know you are going to quote that famous quote from churchill which has been unfortunately making the rounds since the increase on taxes. Trinidad has some of the lowest taxes in the western hemisphere, even compared to countries(such as argentina and chile) that have a much higher standard of living and more developed economy than ours added to having more money in the kitty. We have the lowest electricity rate in the western hemisphere. With an economy under direst from external market forces and internal pressures with supply, do you really think that all these subsidies and low taxes are sustainable? Taxes are not about prosperity, they are about keeping essential services going. If you do not have enough money to pay to generate electricity and you need additional funds to keep the supply going at the same output, you need to find alternative sources of money. Taxing is to keep what we have. It is not meant to get us out of the recession. Two totally different concepts, Swear, the best way to hide things from some trinis is to put it in print yes

[timelapse]

My question oh great expert, is what the government is doing to increase local production and may I be so fass as to ask what are they doing to increase exports? The taxes imposed on citizens have slowed down production, hence inflation will continue to grow at an even more accelerated rate.If we seek to get out of a recession, we need other tactics to gain revenue besides taxing the MC out of citizens.Or do they not want to get out of recession?

How about this for being a dodo brain, what mechanisms have your idiotic band of manicous that you call a government been putting into place to reach prosperity?Lets start there

[sMASH]

Taxes slow me down. Spending at a minimum

[Trinispougla]

Local production does not only depend on government subvention. If you are speaking about agriculture. The reason im saying agriculture is other than the major manufacturers, tt's private sector is mostly retail or consumption oriented. Agriculture was at its worst during the oil years which follows patterns worldwide. The food import bill has been reduced by 1 billion thttp://www.trinidadexpress.com/2017050 ... mport-bill so that could be as a result of two things:an increase in production or changes in habits facilitated by trying economic circumstances. But increased production depends on productivity of workers(one of the country's weak points), private sector involvement which is severely lacking especially in agriculture. For example cocoa. Cocoa would be one of the best areas for local content to be put on the international market. Trinidad is undisputed in its claim that it produces the highest quality of cocoa in the world. But the production of TT cocoa is extremely expensive. Any involvement from government would have to be coupled with significant private sector assistance, something that the latter is not willing to do right now. If you are thinking about food crops, Trinidad has always been a high importer of food, even in the 1940s when Howard University had a conference called The Economic Future Of The Caribbean which is now available in print form.Because of the nature of the plantation, food crops have never been high priority items in the minds of farmers, certainly not enough to lower the import bill and hence a burgeoning food import bill is present. Trinidad even imports broccoli and cauliflower from Tropical East Africa. What i am getting at is saying that forex or taxes is the main cause of your business or agricultural business facing difficulties is irresponsible. Local content was never high in the first place aside from the major manufacturers. High local production has as much to do with government as it has to do with private sector involvement and atitudes

[Sōsuke Aizen]

manning.jpg (29.12 KiB) Viewed 3475 times

2 years later and small twin isle like Trinidad and Tobago struggling.. man hadda cut back on how he living because salary get cut.. that is rellll sheit! He gonna dead from cancer just now anyways so I ain't business.

[shake d livin wake d dead]

for some strange reason I getting a feeling this budget go real fcking dred...men go real feel it...some hardcore speculations in the air

[Sōsuke Aizen]

I go hadda sell one of my testicles to survive after d budget.

[shake d livin wake d dead]

rowly hada be ah real arse we...man tell people shut they mouth on national tv, then make ah tack back and say it was taken out of context

[Redress10]

Local production does not only depend on government subvention. If you are speaking about agriculture. The reason im saying agriculture is other than the major manufacturers, tt's private sector is mostly retail or consumption oriented. Agriculture was at its worst during the oil years which follows patterns worldwide. The food import bill has been reduced by 1 billion thttp://www.trinidadexpress.com/2017050 ... mport-bill so that could be as a result of two things:an increase in production or changes in habits facilitated by trying economic circumstances. But increased production depends on productivity of workers(one of the country's weak points), private sector involvement which is severely lacking especially in agriculture. For example cocoa. Cocoa would be one of the best areas for local content to be put on the international market. Trinidad is undisputed in its claim that it produces the highest quality of cocoa in the world. But the production of TT cocoa is extremely expensive. Any involvement from government would have to be coupled with significant private sector assistance, something that the latter is not willing to do right now. If you are thinking about food crops, Trinidad has always been a high importer of food, even in the 1940s when Howard University had a conference called The Economic Future Of The Caribbean which is now available in print form.Because of the nature of the plantation, food crops have never been high priority items in the minds of farmers, certainly not enough to lower the import bill and hence a burgeoning food import bill is present. Trinidad even imports broccoli and cauliflower from Tropical East Africa. What i am getting at is saying that forex or taxes is the main cause of your business or agricultural business facing difficulties is irresponsible. Local content was never high in the first place aside from the major manufacturers. High local production has as much to do with government as it has to do with private sector involvement and atitudes

Where you all make up these assertions from? Common sense would tell you that if it was as high as you believed then anyone of the major companies would have already set up shop in Tnt right? We even have Nestle here that is a producer of major chocolate brands and they still don't have an interest in cocoa from Trinidad. Let's stop being delusional. Steupss.....Do we even know if chocolate/confectionary companies even care for high quality cocoa?

Now these are the lies that we really need to stop telling ourselves in order to actually progress. Do we really believe that our cocoa is of such high quality that that would give us a major advantage on the world stage? Most cocoa producers are not tiny countries like our own. A small country can never play a significant part in global agriculture. We have finite agricultural land.

[Redress10]

for some strange reason I getting a feeling this budget go real fcking dred...men go real feel it...some hardcore speculations in the air

Brodda man, it's going to be extremely brutal. I am really worried about my fellowman. The scary thing is the average trini already don't have much. Trinis have been telling themselves that because they could afford a lil pick up and have a lil 8-4 that life nice. That is not life being nice, those things are bare necessities to afford a normal level of living. So if those lil things make life nice then what is life gonna be when they can't afford those little things again? Scary

[Redress10]

Finance minister talking about curbing our unhealthy foreign exchange habit yet all of them in Parliament driving luxurious SUV's that cost 10's of thousands of US dollars but want to curb the average citizen from spending less than 500usd a month on foreign goods. Them really don't know themselves.

[Gladiator]

Local production does not only depend on government subvention. If you are speaking about agriculture. The reason im saying agriculture is other than the major manufacturers, tt's private sector is mostly retail or consumption oriented. Agriculture was at its worst during the oil years which follows patterns worldwide. The food import bill has been reduced by 1 billion thttp://www.trinidadexpress.com/2017050 ... mport-bill so that could be as a result of two things:an increase in production or changes in habits facilitated by trying economic circumstances. But increased production depends on productivity of workers(one of the country's weak points), private sector involvement which is severely lacking especially in agriculture. For example cocoa. Cocoa would be one of the best areas for local content to be put on the international market. Trinidad is undisputed in its claim that it produces the highest quality of cocoa in the world. But the production of TT cocoa is extremely expensive. Any involvement from government would have to be coupled with significant private sector assistance, something that the latter is not willing to do right now. If you are thinking about food crops, Trinidad has always been a high importer of food, even in the 1940s when Howard University had a conference called The Economic Future Of The Caribbean which is now available in print form.Because of the nature of the plantation, food crops have never been high priority items in the minds of farmers, certainly not enough to lower the import bill and hence a burgeoning food import bill is present. Trinidad even imports broccoli and cauliflower from Tropical East Africa. What i am getting at is saying that forex or taxes is the main cause of your business or agricultural business facing difficulties is irresponsible. Local content was never high in the first place aside from the major manufacturers. High local production has as much to do with government as it has to do with private sector involvement and atitudes

Where you all make up these assertions from? Common sense would tell you that if it was as high as you believed then anyone of the major companies would have already set up shop in Tnt right? We even have Nestle here that is a producer of major chocolate brands and they still don't have an interest in cocoa from Trinidad. Let's stop being delusional. Steupss.....Do we even know if chocolate/confectionary companies even care for high quality cocoa?

Now these are the lies that we really need to stop telling ourselves in order to actually progress. Do we really believe that our cocoa is of such high quality that that would give us a major advantage on the world stage? Most cocoa producers are not tiny countries like our own. A small country can never play a significant part in global agriculture. We have finite agricultural land.

Hey bro... the cocoa thing is real. We do have an internationally sought after cocoa and there is a huge market for it. If you want more information please visit the Cocoa Research Centre at UWI. Speak to the professor and blow your mind. Right now the Europeans granting 10M Euro to us to develop the industry. Our own government couldn't care less...

[Gladiator]

rowly hada be ah real arse we...man tell people shut they mouth on national tv, then make ah tack back and say it was taken out of context

His back pedal was hilarious.... he blaming the opposition when they never made a statement on the Dominica issue to date... LOL

[Redress10]

Local production does not only depend on government subvention. If you are speaking about agriculture. The reason im saying agriculture is other than the major manufacturers, tt's private sector is mostly retail or consumption oriented. Agriculture was at its worst during the oil years which follows patterns worldwide. The food import bill has been reduced by 1 billion thttp://www.trinidadexpress.com/2017050 ... mport-bill so that could be as a result of two things:an increase in production or changes in habits facilitated by trying economic circumstances. But increased production depends on productivity of workers(one of the country's weak points), private sector involvement which is severely lacking especially in agriculture. For example cocoa. Cocoa would be one of the best areas for local content to be put on the international market. Trinidad is undisputed in its claim that it produces the highest quality of cocoa in the world. But the production of TT cocoa is extremely expensive. Any involvement from government would have to be coupled with significant private sector assistance, something that the latter is not willing to do right now. If you are thinking about food crops, Trinidad has always been a high importer of food, even in the 1940s when Howard University had a conference called The Economic Future Of The Caribbean which is now available in print form.Because of the nature of the plantation, food crops have never been high priority items in the minds of farmers, certainly not enough to lower the import bill and hence a burgeoning food import bill is present. Trinidad even imports broccoli and cauliflower from Tropical East Africa. What i am getting at is saying that forex or taxes is the main cause of your business or agricultural business facing difficulties is irresponsible. Local content was never high in the first place aside from the major manufacturers. High local production has as much to do with government as it has to do with private sector involvement and atitudes

Where you all make up these assertions from? Common sense would tell you that if it was as high as you believed then anyone of the major companies would have already set up shop in Tnt right? We even have Nestle here that is a producer of major chocolate brands and they still don't have an interest in cocoa from Trinidad. Let's stop being delusional. Steupss.....Do we even know if chocolate/confectionary companies even care for high quality cocoa?

Now these are the lies that we really need to stop telling ourselves in order to actually progress. Do we really believe that our cocoa is of such high quality that that would give us a major advantage on the world stage? Most cocoa producers are not tiny countries like our own. A small country can never play a significant part in global agriculture. We have finite agricultural land.

Hey bro... the cocoa thing is real. We do have an internationally sought after cocoa and there is a huge market for it. If you want more information please visit the Cocoa Research Centre at UWI. Speak to the professor and blow your mind. Right now the Europeans granting 10M Euro to us to develop the industry. Our own government couldn't care less...

I'm not going to speak to a professor at UWI. What experience does he have in negotiating and purchasing cocoa for a chocolate company etc. We need to speak to these companies http://www.candyindustry.com/top-25-can ... anies-2013 and see what part we can play in the industry. like I said Nestle is a top 4 producer of chocolate in the world and they are right here in TnT. They haven't shown any interest in this industry's rejuvenation. That should tell you something.

[Dizzy28]

Local production does not only depend on government subvention. If you are speaking about agriculture. The reason im saying agriculture is other than the major manufacturers, tt's private sector is mostly retail or consumption oriented. Agriculture was at its worst during the oil years which follows patterns worldwide. The food import bill has been reduced by 1 billion thttp://www.trinidadexpress.com/2017050 ... mport-bill so that could be as a result of two things:an increase in production or changes in habits facilitated by trying economic circumstances. But increased production depends on productivity of workers(one of the country's weak points), private sector involvement which is severely lacking especially in agriculture. For example cocoa. Cocoa would be one of the best areas for local content to be put on the international market. Trinidad is undisputed in its claim that it produces the highest quality of cocoa in the world. But the production of TT cocoa is extremely expensive. Any involvement from government would have to be coupled with significant private sector assistance, something that the latter is not willing to do right now. If you are thinking about food crops, Trinidad has always been a high importer of food, even in the 1940s when Howard University had a conference called The Economic Future Of The Caribbean which is now available in print form.Because of the nature of the plantation, food crops have never been high priority items in the minds of farmers, certainly not enough to lower the import bill and hence a burgeoning food import bill is present. Trinidad even imports broccoli and cauliflower from Tropical East Africa. What i am getting at is saying that forex or taxes is the main cause of your business or agricultural business facing difficulties is irresponsible. Local content was never high in the first place aside from the major manufacturers. High local production has as much to do with government as it has to do with private sector involvement and atitudes

Where you all make up these assertions from? Common sense would tell you that if it was as high as you believed then anyone of the major companies would have already set up shop in Tnt right? We even have Nestle here that is a producer of major chocolate brands and they still don't have an interest in cocoa from Trinidad. Let's stop being delusional. Steupss.....Do we even know if chocolate/confectionary companies even care for high quality cocoa?

Now these are the lies that we really need to stop telling ourselves in order to actually progress. Do we really believe that our cocoa is of such high quality that that would give us a major advantage on the world stage? Most cocoa producers are not tiny countries like our own. A small country can never play a significant part in global agriculture. We have finite agricultural land.

Hey bro... the cocoa thing is real. We do have an internationally sought after cocoa and there is a huge market for it. If you want more information please visit the Cocoa Research Centre at UWI. Speak to the professor and blow your mind. Right now the Europeans granting 10M Euro to us to develop the industry. Our own government couldn't care less...

I'm not going to speak to a professor at UWI. What experience does he have in negotiating and purchasing cocoa for a chocolate company etc. We need to speak to these companies http://www.candyindustry.com/top-25-can ... anies-2013 and see what part we can play in the industry. like I said Nestle is a top 4 producer of chocolate in the world and they are right here in TnT. They haven't shown any interest in this industry's rejuvenation. That should tell you something.

Do you even know whether nestle does here? It's not chocolate. Why would they care for cocoa then.

Our cocoa is very sought after and not by Mass market chocolatiers. If we can grow 30,000 tonnes per year up from the measly 700 tonnes we produce now it would be purchased with no worries.

[Redress10]

Where are we going to get the agricultural land to produce 30,000 tonnes of cocoa a year?

The point is that Nestle is already here yet they don't care for our cocoa. They are already here meaning that as a MNC they would have relayed back to HEAD OFFICE that our cocoa is of the highest quality and investments should be made in the industry to promote production. That hasn't been done for whatever reasons so that tells me that "high quality" cocoa is not really something that they care about.

30,000 tonnes put us on par with Venezuela. Look at the size of Venezuela.

Haiti produces 10,000 tonnes but look at the size of Haiti and the structure of its economy.

Where are you getting 30,000 tonnes from?

[Redress10]

The Ivory Coast supplies 30 percent of the world’s total cocoa, leading the rest of the world by over half a million metric tons with a total crop of 1,448,992 tonnes. Companies like Nestle and Cadbury receive much of their cocoa from the Ivory Coast and Cocoa alone is responsible for almost two-thirds of the trade revenue coming into the nation.

Recently, serious concerns have been raised about cocoa production here. Child laborers, some of whom are subjected to 100-hour-long workweeks and physical abuse, have been discovered on many of the farms responsible for the nation’s gargantuan output. In addition to the harsh working conditions, child laborers on the Ivory Coast often do not receive any education whatsoever.

An Ivory Coast cocoa farmer made headlines last year when he was featured trying a chocolate bar in a video which went viral. Despite farming cocoa for his entire life, he had never tasted chocolate.

http://www.worldatlas.com/articles/top- ... tries.html

Like I said, I really don't think that the quality of the cocoa is high on the chocolate producers list of demands when purchasing cocoa for chocolate production. Our competitive advantage may be in actually using our same cocoa and producing "organic" high quality chocolate in the niche market. That requires a whole different level of skills and expertise.

[Trinispougla]

The Ivory Coast supplies 30 percent of the world’s total cocoa, leading the rest of the world by over half a million metric tons with a total crop of 1,448,992 tonnes. Companies like Nestle and Cadbury receive much of their cocoa from the Ivory Coast and Cocoa alone is responsible for almost two-thirds of the trade revenue coming into the nation.

Recently, serious concerns have been raised about cocoa production here. Child laborers, some of whom are subjected to 100-hour-long workweeks and physical abuse, have been discovered on many of the farms responsible for the nation’s gargantuan output. In addition to the harsh working conditions, child laborers on the Ivory Coast often do not receive any education whatsoever.

An Ivory Coast cocoa farmer made headlines last year when he was featured trying a chocolate bar in a video which went viral. Despite farming cocoa for his entire life, he had never tasted chocolate.

http://www.worldatlas.com/articles/top- ... tries.html

Like I said, I really don't think that the quality of the cocoa is high on the chocolate producers list of demands when purchasing cocoa for chocolate production. Our competitive advantage may be in actually using our same cocoa and producing "organic" high quality chocolate in the niche market. That requires a whole different level of skills and expertise.

I am aware of that. Ivory coast is by far the largest supplier of cocoa. And I agree with you. They can afford to sell the beans to Confectioneries in Europe and a third of the bundle could spoil and they would still make a killing because of the amount they export. TT does not have that option. Organic chocolate is indeed the the best option. But that requires production and refinement and that is a very expensive process. Which is why I mentioned the private sector, they have to put the money where there mouth is. I have not heard of a state funding a chocolate company.

[Trinispougla]

Local production does not only depend on government subvention. If you are speaking about agriculture. The reason im saying agriculture is other than the major manufacturers, tt's private sector is mostly retail or consumption oriented. Agriculture was at its worst during the oil years which follows patterns worldwide. The food import bill has been reduced by 1 billion thttp://www.trinidadexpress.com/20170509/business/rambharat-1b-cut-in-food-import-bill so that could be as a result of two things:an increase in production or changes in habits facilitated by trying economic circumstances. But increased production depends on productivity of workers(one of the country's weak points), private sector involvement which is severely lacking especially in agriculture. For example cocoa. Cocoa would be one of the best areas for local content to be put on the international market. Trinidad is undisputed in its claim that it produces the highest quality of cocoa in the world. But the production of TT cocoa is extremely expensive. Any involvement from government would have to be coupled with significant private sector assistance, something that the latter is not willing to do right now. If you are thinking about food crops, Trinidad has always been a high importer of food, even in the 1940s when Howard University had a conference called The Economic Future Of The Caribbean which is now available in print form.Because of the nature of the plantation, food crops have never been high priority items in the minds of farmers, certainly not enough to lower the import bill and hence a burgeoning food import bill is present. Trinidad even imports broccoli and cauliflower from Tropical East Africa. What i am getting at is saying that forex or taxes is the main cause of your business or agricultural business facing difficulties is irresponsible. Local content was never high in the first place aside from the major manufacturers. High local production has as much to do with government as it has to do with private sector involvement and atitudes

Where you all make up these assertions from? Common sense would tell you that if it was as high as you believed then anyone of the major companies would have already set up shop in Tnt right? We even have Nestle here that is a producer of major chocolate brands and they still don't have an interest in cocoa from Trinidad. Let's stop being delusional. Steupss.....Do we even know if chocolate/confectionary companies even care for high quality cocoa?

Now these are the lies that we really need to stop telling ourselves in order to actually progress. Do we really believe that our cocoa is of such high quality that that would give us a major advantage on the world stage? Most cocoa producers are not tiny countries like our own. A small country can never play a significant part in global agriculture. We have finite agricultural land.

Hey bro... the cocoa thing is real. We do have an internationally sought after cocoa and there is a huge market for it. If you want more information please visit the Cocoa Research Centre at UWI. Speak to the professor and blow your mind. Right now the Europeans granting 10M Euro to us to develop the industry. Our own government couldn't care less...

I'm not going to speak to a professor at UWI. What experience does he have in negotiating and purchasing cocoa for a chocolate company etc. We need to speak to these companies http://www.candyindustry.com/top-25-candy-companies-2013 and see what part we can play in the industry. like I said Nestle is a top 4 producer of chocolate in the world and they are right here in TnT. They haven't shown any interest in this industry's rejuvenation. That should tell you something.

Do you even know whether nestle does here? It's not chocolate. Why would they care for cocoa then.

Our cocoa is very sought after and not by Mass market chocolatiers. If we can grow 30,000 tonnes per year up from the measly 700 tonnes we produce now it would be purchased with no worries.

I believe I said our cocoa was highly sough. In fact I said it was the highest quality cocoa in the world. But that does not change the fact that, as I said in my post, ivory coast runs the market. Persons seem to think that we are going to find an industry that will give us the same returns that the we got from the enegry sector. We could have the highest exports of cocoa and chocolate and it wouldn't add up to even a tenth of the revenues we got from oil and gas. And as I said in my post, production of chocolate is a very expensive process. The public sector cannot be expected to stand the bounce if that is the direction we intend to go in. This is why I said local content was as reliant on private sector investment and atitude as it was on government help

[Redress10]

Trinispougla, that private sector partnership will never happen. Local chocolate (charles etc) is almost as expensive as international brands.

To put things into perspective. You can get 4 packs of kit kat in a supermarket in London for 1 pound. That works out to $9.05tt. So basically each costs $2.26tt.


Remember we also have record low manufacturing costs in terms of electricity etc yeh? So where do their high manufacturing/production costs come from to warrant these prices? London is viewed as one of the most expensive places to live on the planet.

[Trinispougla]

That is what I was trying to impart to timelapse. That the reality is local content and even the production of local content outside of the energy sector is supported here in some cases at all or very little. Thats why I said an attitude change from the private sector was rewuired. An attitude change in government to an extent but primarily the private sector. I do believe manufacturing is the key though

[Redress10]

Also Trinispougla, I think we need to start attracting high networth individuals as another form of diversification. All the major countries have one and it is used to attract individuals with significant capital. In the UK etc all it takes is 1 million pounds of investment into the economy to be granted one. I think we should look at this option.

I think what we are severely lacking is serious FDI in all other areas apart from just oil/gas. We need to increase FDI and decrease foreign expenditure. The scary thing is that we don't produce anything so we have little to offer the world. I think that food is one area where w should be getting more than we are getting with our current expenditure. We shouldn't be paying exorbitant prices for foods when they are cheap in their countries of origin. So the mark up by local suppliers need to be examined and if possible get direct fdi from a foreign company in that area. We shouldn't be protecting greedy and inefficient conglomerates.

A major part of our problem is that the bare necessities are too expensive and appear as luxury goods.

[Gladiator]

Local production does not only depend on government subvention. If you are speaking about agriculture. The reason im saying agriculture is other than the major manufacturers, tt's private sector is mostly retail or consumption oriented. Agriculture was at its worst during the oil years which follows patterns worldwide. The food import bill has been reduced by 1 billion thttp://www.trinidadexpress.com/2017050 ... mport-bill so that could be as a result of two things:an increase in production or changes in habits facilitated by trying economic circumstances. But increased production depends on productivity of workers(one of the country's weak points), private sector involvement which is severely lacking especially in agriculture. For example cocoa. Cocoa would be one of the best areas for local content to be put on the international market. Trinidad is undisputed in its claim that it produces the highest quality of cocoa in the world. But the production of TT cocoa is extremely expensive. Any involvement from government would have to be coupled with significant private sector assistance, something that the latter is not willing to do right now. If you are thinking about food crops, Trinidad has always been a high importer of food, even in the 1940s when Howard University had a conference called The Economic Future Of The Caribbean which is now available in print form.Because of the nature of the plantation, food crops have never been high priority items in the minds of farmers, certainly not enough to lower the import bill and hence a burgeoning food import bill is present. Trinidad even imports broccoli and cauliflower from Tropical East Africa. What i am getting at is saying that forex or taxes is the main cause of your business or agricultural business facing difficulties is irresponsible. Local content was never high in the first place aside from the major manufacturers. High local production has as much to do with government as it has to do with private sector involvement and atitudes

Where you all make up these assertions from? Common sense would tell you that if it was as high as you believed then anyone of the major companies would have already set up shop in Tnt right? We even have Nestle here that is a producer of major chocolate brands and they still don't have an interest in cocoa from Trinidad. Let's stop being delusional. Steupss.....Do we even know if chocolate/confectionary companies even care for high quality cocoa?

Now these are the lies that we really need to stop telling ourselves in order to actually progress. Do we really believe that our cocoa is of such high quality that that would give us a major advantage on the world stage? Most cocoa producers are not tiny countries like our own. A small country can never play a significant part in global agriculture. We have finite agricultural land.

Hey bro... the cocoa thing is real. We do have an internationally sought after cocoa and there is a huge market for it. If you want more information please visit the Cocoa Research Centre at UWI. Speak to the professor and blow your mind. Right now the Europeans granting 10M Euro to us to develop the industry. Our own government couldn't care less...

I'm not going to speak to a professor at UWI. What experience does he have in negotiating and purchasing cocoa for a chocolate company etc. We need to speak to these companies http://www.candyindustry.com/top-25-can ... anies-2013 and see what part we can play in the industry. like I said Nestle is a top 4 producer of chocolate in the world and they are right here in TnT. They haven't shown any interest in this industry's rejuvenation. That should tell you something.

LOL your ignorance deserves an award... these companies and choclateers from all over Europe send their reps to speak with that same professor. They are literally begging Trinidad to revive our cocoa industry.

[Redress10]

Well if they so want it, what's stopping them from putting their money where their mouth is and starting the process? You do realise that those countries are in fact wealthier than our country right? If they want something done then it is done. Don't be fooled. What's stopping them from simply taking the seeds and planting them in a country of their choice?

[Trinispougla]

Also Trinispougla, I think we need to start attracting high networth individuals as another form of diversification. All the major countries have one and it is used to attract individuals with significant capital. In the UK etc all it takes is 1 million pounds of investment into the economy to be granted one. I think we should look at this option.

I think what we are severely lacking is serious FDI in all other areas apart from just oil/gas. We need to increase FDI and decrease foreign expenditure. The scary thing is that we don't produce anything so we have little to offer the world. I think that food is one area where w should be getting more than we are getting with our current expenditure. We shouldn't be paying exorbitant prices for foods when they are cheap in their countries of origin. So the mark up by local suppliers need to be examined and if possible get direct fdi from a foreign company in that area. We shouldn't be protecting greedy and inefficient conglomerates.

A major part of our problem is that the bare necessities are too expensive and appear as luxury goods.

Reel talk bro. Financial services is another area where we could make some inroads.

[Gladiator]

Where are we going to get the agricultural land to produce 30,000 tonnes of cocoa a year?

The point is that Nestle is already here yet they don't care for our cocoa. They are already here meaning that as a MNC they would have relayed back to HEAD OFFICE that our cocoa is of the highest quality and investments should be made in the industry to promote production. That hasn't been done for whatever reasons so that tells me that "high quality" cocoa is not really something that they care about.

30,000 tonnes put us on par with Venezuela. Look at the size of Venezuela.

Haiti produces 10,000 tonnes but look at the size of Haiti and the structure of its economy.

Where are you getting 30,000 tonnes from?

Dude... in our Cocoa prime we produced an average of 30,000 Tons of cocoa with a peak production of 33,000 tons in 1921. We supplied 20% of the world's market in the 1920s. Imagine what we can do now with technology. Hopefully they didn't build HDC house on all the land.

Trinidad was #4 in the world in cocoa production in post WW1. You can get access to the history at UWI.

Oil killed cocoa in Trinidad... time to do the reverse