Prime Minister of St. Lucia Heads to Cuba

St. Lucia Prime Minister, Kenny Davis Anthony, arrived in Cuba on Monday 27th May, 2013. The Prime Minister will stay in Cuba until June 1st, 2013 in order to strength the diplomatic level bilateral ties - established in August 1979 - between Cuba and St. Lucia. 

His agenda includes talks with the local officials and visits to scientific, medical and educational places of interest. Among the scientific places of interest is the Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology and a nursery in Havana. This centre is linked to urban agriculture.

To read more, please click on the title: Prime Minister of St. Lucia Heads to Cuba to Strengthen Bilateral Ties

Agriculture Research and Development

The Agricultural Science and Technology Indicators (ASTI) for Central America and the Caribbean conducted a two-day training workshop, which was hosted in Costa Rica. This training workshop was conducted as a component of on-going project called  "Tracking Agricultural R&D Investments and Capacities in Central America and the Caribbean".

The Agricultural Science and Technology Indicators (ASTI)  is administered by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). The ASTI is known for agricultural R&D statistics in developing countries.

Photo Courtesy of CARDI

Agriculture R&D comprises of the following tasks:

1. Compiling analyses 
2. Publishing data on institutional developments
3. Investments
4. Capacity trends in agricultural R&D in low- and middle-income countries worldwide 

Future goals of ASTI:
To work closely with CIAT, IICA, and national partners in order to conduct a new survey in Central America and the Caribbean. This survey will provide information on the size, scope, and structure of agricultural R&D in the region.

Challenges:
Lack of information in the following areas:

1. Basic information on the size and scope of agricultural R&D capacity and investments, 
2. The changing institutional structure and functioning of agricultural research agencies, 
3. Science and technologies policies

Required Tools:

1. Quantitative information - to better understand the agricultural growth. 
2. R&D indicators - to measure and monitor inputs, outputs, and performance of agricultural R&D systems. 
3. Stakeholders Observations - to identify trends in agricultural R&D investments and capacity, neglected areas, and research. 

Solution:
The Agricultural Science and Technology Indicators (ASTI) program of the International Food Policy Institute (IFPRI): 
This program is design to collect, analysis, and synthesize information on agricultural R&D investment, capacity, and policy in developing countries. It is capable of providing data trends, such as the advancement of human and financial capacity in agricultural research.

Further Steps:
Studies in 10 CARICOM states will be conducted by CARDI - who is currently under contracted with IFPRI - in order to produce sufficient data needed for the R&D investments in the agriculture sector. These CARICOM states are as follows: Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, Jamaica, Montserrat, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, and Trinidad and Tobago.

To read more, click the title: Agriculture Research and Development

Towards Caribbean e-Agriculture

"Despite high mobile penetration in Caribbean developing nations, using ICTs for business activities is still an obstacle for many smallholders in the agricultural sector," according to Mr. Antoine and Mr. Phillips.

Even though the Caribbean region has displayed mobile phone penetration advancements -  some islands achieving 166%, compared with 128% in Europe, 104% in the United States and 76% in China - full use of ICTs in business activities are currently achieving lower numbers. The Caribbean government and economic planners are concern about this growing trend according to "Towards Caribbean e-Agriculture". 

The current challenges associated with this trend are:

1. Awareness - " smallholder and subsistence farmers in the Caribbean are often unaware of existing ICT services...Few of the farmers in the region have smartphones that can access online services, so SMS-based applications may be more useful to farmers who either do not have smartphones or are not inclined to uptake data and mobile internet packages."
2. Targeting - "agricultural market reports and analyses tend be geared more to researchers, academics and managers of large operations than to small farmers and agri-business operators. The challenge is to encourage these service providers to provide more customised content, and in media formats that are most familiar to the majority of agricultural stakeholders."

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The article continues by stating the need to address the challenges. One solution that is available is education/ training:

• Web 2.0 for Agriculture training is available in the Caribbean region. This training session is hosted by The Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation and is delivered by INFOCOMM Technologies Limited. Participants are trained in the following key areas: RSS feeds and alerts, wikis, Google docs, VoIP, online mapping, online publishing, blogging and social media.

 To read more, please click the link provided: Towards Caribbean e-Agriculture