Competition Promotes Climate-Smart Agriculture

Organized by IICA, the initiative seeks to reward and disseminate success stories of sustainable agricultural practices that foster adaptation and food security in the face of climate change.

Through a competition entitled “Climate Smart Agriculture: Stories from Farmers in the Eastern Caribbean States,” the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) and the Ministries of Agriculture from the Eastern Caribbean States seek to identify successful cases of on-farm climate-smart practices in the six countries of the ECS:  Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, St. Lucia, St. Kitts and Nevis, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

Participating stories must demonstrate their contribution to the three objectives of climate-smart agriculture: increasing productivity and food security, fostering processes for adapting to climate change, and reducing agriculture’s greenhouse gas emissions (when possible).  Entries should focus on the resilience aspect of their stories.

The competition is open to public or private organizations that are able to document the cases and are interested in more broadly disseminating their experiences. Government entities, international organizations (either nonprofit or for-profit), and their employees are not eligible to participate in the competition; however, they can encourage the organizations they support to document and submit their stories.

The application period began on March 30 and  will end on May 30. Applicants must submit their stories by filling out the online entry form available at https://iicawash.typeform.com/to/feWelE. The terms and conditions can be found there as well.

An expert jury will evaluate all of the submissions. The first-place winner and runner up will be awarded with a professional documentary about their story as well as a publication, and will be able to participate in an awards ceremony in their home country. The winners will also receive an all-expenses-paid trip to the regional awards ceremony that will be held in St. Lucia in early August.  Additional national level prizes, being provided by generous partners, will also be awarded to the top stories from each country.

This competition is part of the activities being organized within the framework of the Caribbean Forum on Climate-Smart Agriculture. Since 2015, this forum has provided an opportunity for participants to share experiences and knowledge. Its main objective is to promote actions in the Caribbean Region that encourage the use of agricultural systems that are more productive, generate less emissions, and are adapted to climate change.

More information:  kelly.witkowski@iica.int 

This post appears in the IICA Delegation in the USA Newsletter - March - April 2016