The Min­istry of Agri­cul­ture and Fish­eries has launched a pi­lot pro­gramme for soy­abean, corn and black­eye beans pro­duc­tion with a plant­i­ng ex­er­cise at South­ern Main Road, Ca­roni.

The pro­gramme tar­gets in­creased do­mes­tic pro­duc­tion, re­duced food im­ports and sup­port for food and nu­tri­tion needs. It forms part of a shift to­ward a pro­duc­tion-based agri­cul­tur­al ap­proach.

Min­is­ter of Agri­cul­ture and Fish­eries, Ravi Rati­ram, said the ini­tia­tive fo­cus­es on re­duc­ing re­liance on im­ports and in­creas­ing lo­cal out­put. He said the pro­gramme aims to move the sec­tor to­ward pro­duc­tion and sup­ply.