$1 mil­lion in agro-pro­cess­ing equip­ment is be­ing used to boost the lo­cal food in­dus­try. On Sat­ur­day, Prime Min­is­ter Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar opened the Brechin Cas­tle Agro-Pro­cess­ing Fa­cil­i­ty in Cou­va.

Per­sad-Bisses­sar told the gath­er­ing that Brechin Cas­tle has be­come part of a new agri­cul­tur­al fu­ture for Trinidad and To­ba­go. She said: “Af­ter more than 11 years, the for­mer pack­ing house has been trans­formed in­to a mod­ern agro-pro­cess­ing fa­cil­i­ty equipped with three ful­ly au­to­mat­ed stain­less steel pro­cess­ing lines. It can now turn lo­cal­ly cul­ti­vat­ed root crops, veg­eta­bles, and fruits in­to val­ue-added, ex­port-ready prod­ucts that meet in­ter­na­tion­al food safe­ty and qual­i­ty stan­dards.”

The Prime Min­is­ter said prod­ucts made from lo­cal pro­duce can now car­ry greater com­mer­cial val­ue and stronger re­gion­al and in­ter­na­tion­al mar­ket po­ten­tial. “This is agri­cul­ture dri­ven not on­ly by cul­ti­va­tion, but al­so by pro­cess­ing, brand­ing, ex­ports, and in­no­va­tion. This fa­cil­i­ty al­so strength­ens food se­cu­ri­ty, re­duces de­pen­dence on food im­ports, and helps build a more re­silient econ­o­my.”