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Ravi Ratiram – SUREASH CHOLAI

The United National Congress (UNC) is calling on the Government to address praedial larceny and provide the Praedial Larceny Squad with the resources it needs to fight the crime.

This was one of many issues relating to the agricultural sector the Couva North MP Ravi Ratiram addressed at Opposition’s weekly Sunday press briefing at its Charles Street, Port of Spain office.

He renewed his call for the Government to address the matter.

Ratiram was joined by Opposition senator David Nakhid as they addressed issues of crime, the Agri-Investment Forum and Expo as well as the recent ban on the scrap-iron industry.

“With respect to our farmers, praedial larceny remains a foremost threat to farming and the livelihood to this group of persons (sic).”

Ratiram said he repeatedly spoke to issues faced by the squad. He then called on Minister of Agriculture, land and Fisheries Kazim Hosein to fix the squad.

For fishermen, piracy was a major issue. Ratiram said he met with National Security Minister Fitzgerald Hinds on the matter and absolutely nothing was done.

Ratiram said he hopes, in the upcoming budget, the Government considers setting up a coast guard base at the Carli Bay, Couva, facility so there will be a coast guard presence along the Gulf of Paria that can patrol from south to north.

Asked if he had hopes that plans coming out of Agri-Investment Forum and Expo II would materialise, Ratiram said, regionally, there is hope for the agricultural sector; however, as a country under the People’s National Movement (PNM) administration where several of its policies have not materialised, it appeared that TT was in a hopeless place.

The forum and expo saw Guyanese president Dr Mohamed Irfaan Ali and Barbados’ prime minister Mia Mottley call for greater food security in the region as well as urging business leaders to invest more to make the region sustainable. Ali and TT’s Prime Minister also made commitments to work together to make trade easier in Caricom.

The expo ran from August 19-21.

Ratiram said, “Despite the neglect the agriculture sector has received from this Rowley-led PNM, we in the UNC take this opportunity to congratulate the participants at the expo and the Caricom heads of Government for the initiatives in working towards attaining regional food security.”

He added that the issue was something Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar spoke about for a long time.

Ratiram said the country needed to work collectively and be serious about implementing what was spoken about at the expo.

Farmers were not in better position today than they were seven years ago, he said.

Ratiram said farmers faced many issues including flooding and praedial larceny.

“If our farmers cannot access the agricultural plots except on foot, how are they going to the produce and how are they going to get the produce out of the field. And when the crops remain there and rotting the field whether above or below the ground, what happens?

“The country suffers. Citizens suffer. The price of goods in the market continues to go up and up and then the countries blame the farmers.

“The infrastructural issues faced by these central farmers also extend to the Ministry of Works and Transport and the failure to maintain some basic infrastructure like the bridges that are necessary to access these agricultural plots.”

Ratiram said he hoped there was some injection into agriculture coming out of the forum and expo and not “just a photo-op with Caricom leaders.”

He said the Government’s actions were proving otherwise as it relates to food.

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Prime Minister Andrew Holness says that despite the purveyors of doom and gloom within the country, the Jamaican economy is continuing its strong recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and other external shocks.

Speaking at the handing-over of a house under the Government’s New Social Housing Programme (NSHP) in Aberley district in South West St Ann on Friday, Holness pushed back at critics of his Administration’s stewardship of the economy.

“I am saying this to you that in spite of the purveyors of doom and gloom – those people who can only thrive by breaking down Jamaica and making everything look bad – this economy, your country, is recovering nicely and showing resilience,” he declared.

He cited Thursday’s disclosure by the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ) that the country’s economy grew by an estimated 5.7 per cent during the April to June 2022 quarter as an example of the economy’s resilience amid global crisis.

“In the midst of crisis when all the negative people saying things are bad, the economy is projected to grow this quarter, as the PIOJ (Planning Institute of Jamaica) has pointed out, by over five per cent.

“My God! When has that ever happened that in a time of crisis where everybody saying recession looming, our economy is still showing strong signs of recovery?” Holness questioned.

While admitting that times are hard due to the economic onslaught brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic and the geopolitical tensions in Europe, the prime minister said steady leadership of the country is required to create the right balance between the management of the economy and providing social support.

This, he said, the Government has managed to achieve.

“I am here to say to you, ‘Yes, times are hard, things rough, inflation a beat all a wi, fuel and food prices moving like crazy’, and there are those who would say to you, ‘Give up hope and blame the Government and create chaos’. That not going work!” Holness insisted.

“In these difficult times what you want is steady management, steady leadership, you want a Government that can see beyond the crisis and ensure that we don’t do things in our economy that will destroy it.

“In the midst of crisis, the Government’s steady handling of the economy has resulted in unemployment going down,” he stated.

Though the Opposition People’s National Party (PNP) and some citizens have been clamouring for the Government to hand out more social safety net support, Holness said his Administration has, in fact, done so.

“We put social safety net support on electricity for those people who consume below a certain threshold… We give food packages through the CDF (Constituency Development Fund) and that is helping,” he said, adding that special support has also been given to the transport sector, small businesses and the entertainment sector.

However, he opined that “the biggest help” that every independent Jamaican would want in a time of crisis is “if you are not employed and you don’t have (an) income, the best thing for you is to get a job and get some income.

“… And that is what this Government is doing. The critics don’t want you to hear that! They don’t want you to remember that we have brought down unemployment from the highs of 13 per cent. Unemployment is now down to its lowest ever (at) six per cent, and it’s going to go even lower.

“So the best protection against inflation and crisis, (and) the best social safety net that a Government can give to anybody is a job,” Holness insisted.

Meanwhile, the prime minister said the state is moving at pace with the construction of more social houses under the NSHP.

“I am very satisfied with how the programme is working and very soon we will be able to do 500 (houses) a year, and then we can increase that up to a 1,000 a year,” Holness stated.

“Within 10 years, if the programme continues, we should be able to address this housing situation affecting the worse, but the situation will get better as the economy grows and people get employed and they don’t have to rely on social housing,” he indicated.

In the meantime, Holness said the challenges that are being faced by many Jamaicans, including lack of proper housing, can be resolved, as the Government has “the resources and the strength and the will to overcome them.

“… And we are going to do it if it is even one house at a time, one job at a time, one new road at a time, we are going to continue to do it.

“I want you to keep on the side of the positive, keep on the side of the hopeful, (and) keep on the side of the progressive, because if you listen to the negatives, then they become self-fulfilling prophecies,” urged Holness.

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