Saturday, May 10 2008

CONSUMER and Legal Affairs Minister Peter Taylor said yesterday another proposed hike in rice prices was understandable given global trends.

On Wednesday, Charles James, managing director of JMH Enterprises, importer and distributor of Par Excellence parboiled rice, warned that a continuous rise in food costs globally and the scarcity of rice could lead to price increases as early as next month.

Speaking at the transportation hub at City Gate in Port-of-Spain yesterday, Taylor said while the price hike was understandable, he received no reports of there being a rice or flour shortage.

Taylor spoke to reporters as he distributed ochro, corn, melongene, pigeon peas and bodi seeds to the public as part of a “grow your own food” initiative by the ministry.

The minister urged the public to return to old practices of backyard gardening.

“Now is the time to go back to the old time days,” said Taylor.

Taylor, as he answered questions on why farmers were encountering difficulty securing land to plant crops, said the process to regularise farmers was long.