Subsidies to promote technolody adoption in Trinidad and Tobago

Subsidies have been part of the agricultural development of Trinidad and Tobago for over 40 years. The main objectives of the subsidy programme include: increase in agricultural output, modernization of the agricultural sector through use of improved production technology, maintaining a viable farming sector by ensuring that farm prices do not fall below production costs and increasing the well being of the rural community. Farm income subsidy and farm output subsidy had little or no effect on changes in the farming practices. The most spectacular evidence of impact on agricultural production by a subsidy measure is that of import restrictions on competing agricultural outputs. Restrictions on poultry, tomato, and cabbage resulted in Trinidad and Tobago attaining self sufficiency a few years later. This implied the application of various forms of technology so as to increase output to satisfy the import substitution gap. Farm input subsidies can have a more direct effect on technology adoption. The National Fertilizer Scheme was influential in the increased adoption of this technology as with herbicides and mechanical land preparation. Operational efficiency of the production subsidies was seriously undermined by delays in subsidy payments, levels of subsidy payments, complicated administrative procedure and distortions in the labour input market. The field of technology is regarded as a high priority area for future subsidization. Concludes that the path of technology in agriculture is enhanced by the application of agricultural subsidies. Their effectiveness, depends on proper planning and streamlining of subsidy measures so as to ensure the realization of increased production efficiency.