Ministers from the Caribbean, specialists and representatives of cooperation agencies met in Antigua and Barbuda to discuss the planning, development and management of a sustainable agricultural insurance scheme.

From June 15 to 18, organizations and authorities involved in agriculture in the Caribbean were in Antigua and Barbuda to participate in the Caribbean Regional Symposium on Disaster Risk Management / Caribbean Agriculture Insurance Symposium on Disaster Risk Management which was also attended by representatives of the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA).

The event was organized by IICA, the CARICOM Secretariat, the World Bank, the Caribbean Development Bank, FAO, the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) and the Government of AUSTRALIA Aid Programme.

The event was inaugurated by the Minister of Agriculture, Lands, Housing & the Environment of Antigua and Barbuda, Hilson Baptiste, and IICA’s Director of Management and Regional Integration, Victor del Angel.

“Agriculture vitality stimulates the economy, creates jobs, increases civil stability, improves food security, eliminates hunger and reduces poverty”. With these words, David Hatch, the Deputy Director General of IICA and IICA Representative in the United States, sought to increase awareness of the importance agricultural insurance and risk management in mitigating the impact of disasters have taken on.

Agriculture and the rural sector play an essential role in generating jobs and driving economic growth. However, the lack of a coordinated framework at the national and regional levels for managing the risks related to disasters has resulted in little investment being made in agricultural production and marketing.

In 2009, agriculture accounted for almost 5% of GDP in the Caribbean, varying from 1% in several island nations to 20% or more in countries such as Haiti (20.3%) and Guyana (30.2%).

Hatch explained that interaction between the public and private sectors is essential in creating the framework needed to manage risk, and would have an influence on the availability of credit, which is essential to the expansion of agriculture.

For his part, Minister Baptiste noted that agriculture in the Caribbean had suffered at the hands of Mother Nature for years, leading to an increase in imports. “We can grow what we eat in the region. However, this requires a collaborative approach.”

In his judgment, the high food import bills of the countries of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) “must come to an end”.

The Minister of Agriculture of Guyana, Robert Persaud, added that climate change will lead to higher tides, abrupt changes in precipitation patterns and more climate-related natural disasters, which will have a great impact on agriculture and food security in the region.

“We need to do more as a region to coordinate and strengthen our risk management measures. I hope this Symposium will lead to concrete and tangible outcomes with regards to rendering the Region’s agricultural sector more resilient to natural disasters in particular,” he noted.

He concluded saying that from 1988 to 2006, the sector was hit by seven natural disasters, resulting in economic losses totaling almost US$35 million a year.

The Minister of Agriculture and Forestry of Dominica, Matthew Walter, said that the region urgently needs an agricultural insurance scheme, adding that the government is responsible for protecting farmers, but has limited resources to do so.

Florita Kentish, FAO Subregional Coordinator for the Caribbean, called attention to the need for governments to become more involved not only in the creation of policies on risk, but also in research on agricultural insurance.

Coordinator of the IICA Technical Cooperation Agenda for the Caribbean, Vincent Little, suggested that the region could implement risk management measures that are transferable, make relevant information on the management of risks and disasters part of planning processes, develop protocols, upgrade national and local capabilities, and develop new means of limiting damage and assessing losses.

Those participating in the symposium included regional authorities involved in policy design, funding agencies, the private sector, insurance companies, farmers and other agencies involved in agriculture.

For more information, contact
gregg.rawlins@iica.int