The delegations, stayed in Costa Rica until February 13, were headed by Senator Haynesley Benn, Minister of Agriculture of Barbados, and Michael Denis Lett, Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Grenada.
Minister Benn was accompanied by Charleston Lucas, Deputy Agricultural Officer from the Ministry of Agriculture. Minister Lett was accompanied by the Permanent Secretary from the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Gemma Bain-Thomas, and Malachy Dottin, Research Director from that Ministry.
Joseph Peltier and Una May Gordon, IICA Representatives in Barbados and Grenada, respectively, were also included in the visit to IICA Headquarters.
The Forum for Leaders is part of an innovative effort promoted by IICA through its Center for Leadership in Agriculture. It seeks to provide input, through dialogue, for Ministers of Agriculture and senior executives in the agricultural sector in shaping a current vision of agriculture and rural life in the XXIst century.
In opening the discussion, Director General Brathwaite explained the mission and history of the Institute, its structure, governing bodies and other aspects of the work of this specialized agency of the Inter-American System.
Later on, the discussion centered around the global challenges facing any Minister of Agriculture in the XXIst century, including, inter alia, poverty, food insecurity, climate change, malnutrition, transboundary diseases and multilateral trade negotiations.
In the opinion of Director General Brathwaite, if the countries recognized the true contribution of agriculture to the economy (in several countries of the hemisphere, nearly 30 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product) if they made the necessary investments in the sector, and if agriculture were to be given priority on the national development agendas, the sector would contribute far more to solving some of the pressing global challenges and improving the level of development in our countries.
Brathwaite, a national of Barbados, then turned to the challenges in the Caribbean. Among these, he mentioned producing sustainable energy; increasing local food production and consumption; and in the face of the loss of preferential markets, continuing to participate in multilateral trade negotiations.
The increasingly violent hurricanes and floods caused by climate change make it imperative for the Caribbean countries to develop agricultural insurance and early prevention systems, said the Director General of IICA.
He went on to explain how the complexity of the agricultural sector and its multiple ties to other sectors (such as tourism, industry, public health) have led to changes in the portfolios of the Ministers of Agriculture “since they are no longer ministers of producers but also ministers of consumers; they must be ministers of agriculture, food and rural development, he maintained.
The Forum was then opened up for the interventions of the Ministers of Agriculture of Barbados and Grenada who explained the strategies they are promoting in their countries to boost this economic sector.
The response of Barbados
Minister ben insisted that Barbados had viewed the global challenges as an opportunity to reinforce the importance of agriculture. He gave assurances that his portfolio was aware that food security, food safety and sound nutrition were all-important for the country’s development.
He reported that his Ministry was working hard to diversify production and strengthen markets, not only to facilitate the sale of farm produce, but also to motivate hotels, restaurants, supermarkets and other players in the tourism sector to purchase agricultural products.
On the matter of the introduction of new technologies, he said that greenhouses had been established and activities carried out to increase productivity and protect the environment and safeguard sustainable land development. The scientific laboratories were also being improved.
The Minister stressed the efforts under way to interest young people in the agricultural sector.
In concluding his remarks, Minister Ben said that Barbados was aware that no single country could solve the global challenges and that Barbados therefore recognized that collaboration, cooperation and teamwork were necessary in order to surmount the challenges.
Grenada in the face of its devastated agriculture
Minister Lett shared his proposal to promote Grenada’s agriculture, which was devastated by Hurricanes Ivan and Emily in 2004 y 2005, respectively. It has further suffered the effects of rising fuel prices, the dismantling of European Union trade preferences and certain invasive agricultural diseases.
As a result of the destruction caused by climatic phenomena, there is a huge demand for plants and genetic materials, he said. Nurseries had therefore been restored and a plant propagation project (linked to the priority needs of the industry), for which the necessary personnel would be recruited, was in the pipeline.
Minister Lett explained that the importation of meat products accounted for a significant portion of Grenada’s purchases abroad. Because of this, a comprehensive plan to develop that subsector was launched on February 18.
The idea is to improve genetically dairy, meat, as well as pork production through artificial insemination, he said. The plan was also to develop small ruminant mammals and birds since poultry production in Grenada only supplied 15 per cent of the country’s demand.
In the Minister’s opinion, the fisheries sector was also a “potential gold mine”. The government was therefore endeavoring to increase the marketing of fish and maintain its export status vis-à-vis the European Union.
The Ministry of Agriculture planned to train agricultural officers, specialists and farmers in the country for the purpose of boosting Grenada’s agriculture and ensuring the availability of the requisite human resources and institutional framework to do so. The Minister also reported that mechanisms would be created to facilitate agricultural research.
Another area of focus was food security, with an emphasis on vulnerable groups, and the development of processed agricultural products with high value added to boost small-scale agribusinesses.
On-site learning
As part of their visit to Costa Rica, the Ministers went on a field trip to “La Esperanza” organic farm, the National Horticultural Corporation, the National Learning Institute (INA) and Earth University.
On this field trip, they were able to observe chemical-free production practices, the production of crops in protected environments, nurseries, the production of tissues, etc.
The Forum and the dialogue with the directors at IICA, especially, gave the Ministers an opportunity to generate input for revising IICA’s technical cooperation agenda in their countries.
For more information, contact
hernan.chiriboga@iica.int