T&T promises to relook at ban on honey transshipment

Trinidad and Tobago’s (T&T) Prime Minister, Dr Keith Rowley has committed that his country is looking into the 80-year-old law which restricts Guyana from transshipping honey exports through the twin-island nation.

The 1935 T&T law prohibits the transportation of honey within one mile of the country. In fact, back in 2015, Laparkan was fined US$3000 by Trinidad and Tobago’s customs for facilitating the shipment of honey. The authorities had also seized the quantity of honey which was in-transit there. Apart from Guyana, Grenada also faces similar troubles with twin-island laws.
However, Dr Rowley, in responding to questions following the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Energy Sector Cooperation between Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago, told media operatives on Wednesday that while he was not aware that Guyana was also affected by the restriction, he assured that steps are being taken to address the matter.
“We did discuss it this morning (Wednesday) and the Minister of Agriculture and the Minister of Foreign Affairs have agreed that we will look at it. Without talking out of turn, once we are satisfied that there are no phyto-sanitary risks that we should ignore or should not ignore, we will look at it with an eye to furthering the business with Guyana without risking the bio-diversity of Trinidad and Tobago,” the T&T Prime Minister asserted.
With that said, Dr Rowley nevertheless pointed out that his Government will be guided by the technical outcome of the matter.
Trinidad and Tobago has been strictly defensive of its Beekeeping and Bee Products Act and regulations, given its vibrant honey sector. But under the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas and the World Trade Organisation (WTO) Agreement, the twin-island republic is mandated to treat with its Caribbean Community (Caricom) trading partners fairly, and, as such, must take the necessary steps to ensure that its laws are in compliance with regional and international obligations.

To this end, the issue has been discussed and deliberated on at several regional meetings. In fact, the May Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED) meeting held in Guyana was the most recent engagement on the issue and Chairman of that meeting, Antigua and Barbuda’s Trade, Commerce and Industry Minister, Chet Greene, was reported as saying it is now left up to the twin-island nation to enact the necessary legislations to facilitate the trade.
“We would be guided by the technical outcome. The last time we raised this matter at Caricom, we agreed that the Caricom protocol, having been checked, should prevail and Trinidad and Tobago would obey the protocol,” Dr Rowley indicated.
However, T&T’s Agriculture Minister, Clarence Rambharat, who accompanied Prime Minister Rowley on the one-day visit to Guyana, in a subsequent interview defended his country’s strict legislation on honey outside of Trinidad, saying that the country has been able to maintain its honey, which is a thriving sector, disease free and the importation of any disease would cause a significant impact.
“I’m not afraid to say we’re very defensive of honey because we have a very strong sector and good record in honey… [But] we’ve committed to have another look at the law to see if we could create that environment in which we could allow in-transit, once it doesn’t stay in the country, and it’s something we have to look at,” he posited.
To this end, Rambharat outlined that Trinidad will have to conduct an assessment to ascertain the risks of honey being transshipped to the islands from Guyana. He noted that similar tests have been ongoing over the past two years following Grenada’s complaints to COTED.
The T&T Agriculture Minster explained that the country has agreed upon a particular approach with Grenada and they are in the process right now of doing a risk-analysis in both countries and this is being done in collaboration with the Caribbean Health and Food Safety Agency (CAHFSA).
Meanwhile of recent, Guyana has amped up efforts to boost its apiculture industry by producing honey on a large scale. To this end, 25 youths and women beekeepers had undergone training last year with assistance from the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB).
They aimed to add honey to the country’s list of produce while reducing imports at the same time. According to a statement from the CDB in January, Guyana’s apicultural industry is currently producing 11,300 gallons of honey annually, but the local demand is greater and as such, the country imports over 4000 gallons from markets such as Jamaica and the United States each year to make up the shortfall.