THA Deputy Chief Secretary and Secretary of Health, Wellness and Social Protection, Faith BYisrael has given the assurance that Tobago has enough food right now to feed itself and denies reports of a food shortage on the island.
BYisrael said “We have enough food right here to feed us, if we don’t waste it.”
Her comment follows reports that due to the repairs being done on the cargo vessel Cabo Star, truckers have been having a hard time getting items across to the island, thus causing a shortage of food supplies.
However, while speaking during the Division of Food Security, Natural Resources, the Environment and Sustainable Development’s launch of its World Food Day 2023 programme carded for October 18-19 at the Food Hub in Shaw Park, BYisrael said: “The situation on the island right now is one where we actually have enough food, but we do not have the appetite for the food that we have. We have enough of the foods that we pass, and we waste all the time and we have enough of the vegetables that we pass, and we waste all the time – and of the flowers that are edible that we don’t know we can eat them. And of all of those things that are happening around us, but we waste it because we want the whatever is on the shelves.”
She said it is time that people think critically about what is available and what can be done with what is available.
“I am encouraging all of you – the farmers, the fishermen, those of you who are in the area of food production to look at this critical juncture and to use every crisis as an opportunity to redefine your worth. We need to put ourselves on a footing where the inter island woes do not bother us in the future or if it bothers us it is because we do not have transport to send food out, not because we don’t have transport to bring food in.”
The Port Authority of TT has sourced a vessel that will be put into service for cargo this weekend.