IICA has taken part in other forums held to seek consensus on ways of tackling the food crisis. One of these was the High-level Conference on World Food Security: the Challenges of Climate Change and Bioenergy. Convened by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), it took place 3-5 June.The Director of Technical Leadership and Knowledge Management, James French, and the IICA Representative in Brazil, Carlos Basco attended the event on behalf of the Institute.
The Director General praised the Assembly for attaching special attention to the role of youth in building the future of the hemisphere.
He noted that IICA also attached critical importance to the preparation of young leaders in agriculture and rural life, who, with a global vision, will be responsible for tackling some of today’s most complicated problems, including food security, production of agrofuels, food trade and the sustainable management of the environment.
While in Medellin, the Director General had the opportunity to discuss these and other topics with Ministers of Foreign Relations and Heads of Delegation.
At the meeting of the Summit Implementation Review Group (SIRG), on June 2, Brathwaite presented IICA’s vision of the current international context, which is characterized by higher prices for petroleum-based products, growing demand for protein in economies such as China and India, climate change and crop failures due to drought in several parts of the globe.
Brathwaite noted “What our countries need, more than short-term responses, are clear food security policies and, above all, to make the development of agriculture a top national priority.”
The delegations of the Member States of the OAS were given a document the spells out the Institute’s position on the subject of the food crisis, in which the Director General stresses the need to find long-term solutions.
Looking ahead to Jamaica 2009 “Friendly and constructive “ is how Brathwaite described a meeting held in Colombia between the IICA delegation and the Minister of State in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade of Jamaica, Ronald A. Robinson, to discuss preparations for the Fifth Ministerial Meeting on Agriculture and Rural Life , scheduled for 2009 in Jamaica.
Minister Robinson was accompanied by his country’s Ambassador to the OAS, Anthony Johnson, and the Charge D’Affaires and Consul General of Jamaica in Colombia, Elaine Sanchez. Representing IICA were Deputy Director General Christopher Hansen; IICA Representative in the United States David Hatch; Director for Follow-up of the Summit of the Americas Process Bernardo Badani; IICA Representative in Colombia, Jorge Caro; and the Coordinator of the Office of the Director General, Pamela Stroude.
Brathwaite reassured Minister Robinson of the Institute’s commitment to work to improve agriculture in Jamaica; mentioned the recent visit of the Minister of Agriculture of Jamaica, Christopher Tufton, to IICA Headquarters in Costa Rica; and referred to a recent internship program in which a group of officials and producers received training in agricultural techniques for protected environments.
He also thanked the Government of Jamaica for offering to host the next Ministerial Meeting and the Regular Meeting of the Inter-American Board of Agriculture (IABA).
During the OAS General Assembly, Minister Robinson announced that the Ministerial meeting would be held in his country next year.
During his meeting with the IICA delegation, the Minister offered details on national plans, for example, to support the dairy industry, increase rice production, or revitalize agricultural extension and animal and plant health services.
He also called attention to the need to establish disaster insurance schemes that can serve as a model for the Caribbean, above all, in light of the effects of climate change.