“Young people are attracted to technology driven versus labour driven industries.
Hence in order to empower graduates, create efficient and effective human resource capacity within the field of agriculture and attain agricultural success, we, academics, have to address these needs,” declared University of the West Indies (UWI), St. Augustine Campus Principal Professor Clement Sankat.
Sankat was addressing attendees at the opening of the Faculty of Food and Agriculture (FFA) Workshop titled “Building Human Resource Capacity in the Region” at the Conference Inn UWI, Circular Road, St Augustine on Tuesday.
A continuation of the pioneering work done by the UWI FFA in Trinidad and Tobago, the workshop marked the first steps in the combined mission of Caribbean universities and agricultural training institutions to lead Human Resource development in agriculture in the region.
Through presentations, discussions and brainstorming sessions, heads and representatives from these organisations pitched ideas and solutions to the “brain drain” in the Caribbean. The two day workshop, from July 29 to 31, engaged the contributions or regional directors of agriculture and principals of tertiary level institutions and other representatives of colleges of agriculture in the region with the hope of deriving strategies to treat with the issue of building human resource capacity in agriculture in the region through revamped academic programmes, apprenticeship programmes, and other innovative methods of recruitment and strategic relationships with the private sector.
Coordinated by Faculty of Food and Agriculture Dean, Dr. Issac Bekele, Lecturer in the Department of Agricultural Extension and Economics, Dr Wayne Ganpat and other Faculty representatives, the workshop was the first of its kind by the UWI FFA in their vision for a new breed of agricultural professionals in view of the challenges for regional food availability and food security. Also included in Sankat’s opening address was a detailed identification of major challenges to food availability and food security in Trinidad and Tobago and the region- “Low interest in the agricultural sector and an aging farm population, low productivity and production levels of commodities, lack of consistent policies, low levels of resources for innovation, technology and creativity research, inadequate financing facilities and inadequate trained people for the sector…These challenges and more need to be addressed so that we can take advantage of the opportunities in the sector for increased food production, accentuation of the value added industries and more importantly to curb the ever increasing dependence on food imports and the high food import bill,” Sankat said.
His assertions were supported by Dominican Director of Agriculture, Ricky Brumant who urged fellow professionals in the regional industry to work together to solve the problems of agriculture by sharing intellectual capital between countries. “If there is a shortage of agricultural economists in Dominica and Barbados and an excess in Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica why can’t we share these human resources between each other?” Brumant asked. “Dominica may lack agricultural engineers but there may be an excess in Trinidad and Tobago.
We have reached a stage where we need to collate and organise our resources in the region towards boosting the sector through a united approach.” Also speaking on the first day of the workshop was CEO of Caribbean Chemicals, Joe Pires, who dared University officials to think outside the box and beyond the current times in preparing human resource capital for the working world. And, in light of new academic programmes for the UWI FFA, Dr. Laura Roberts-Nkrumah commented on the newly offered Undergraduate Diploma in Agricultural Extension and Dr. Wayne Ganpat discussed the proposal of an Undergraduate Diploma in Tropical Agriculture.
“The overall aim of this diploma is to develop the technical competencies of agricultural extension workers in the region so that they could develop and conduct technically sound extension programmes for agricultural producers using the appropriate methods. I see this as a major force in reviving and sustaining the sector amidst the challenges for agriculture in the region,” Ganpat suggested.
Sankat was addressing attendees at the opening of the Faculty of Food and Agriculture (FFA) Workshop titled “Building Human Resource Capacity in the Region” at the Conference Inn UWI, Circular Road, St Augustine on Tuesday.
A continuation of the pioneering work done by the UWI FFA in Trinidad and Tobago, the workshop marked the first steps in the combined mission of Caribbean universities and agricultural training institutions to lead Human Resource development in agriculture in the region.
Through presentations, discussions and brainstorming sessions, heads and representatives from these organisations pitched ideas and solutions to the “brain drain” in the Caribbean. The two day workshop, from July 29 to 31, engaged the contributions or regional directors of agriculture and principals of tertiary level institutions and other representatives of colleges of agriculture in the region with the hope of deriving strategies to treat with the issue of building human resource capacity in agriculture in the region through revamped academic programmes, apprenticeship programmes, and other innovative methods of recruitment and strategic relationships with the private sector.
Coordinated by Faculty of Food and Agriculture Dean, Dr. Issac Bekele, Lecturer in the Department of Agricultural Extension and Economics, Dr Wayne Ganpat and other Faculty representatives, the workshop was the first of its kind by the UWI FFA in their vision for a new breed of agricultural professionals in view of the challenges for regional food availability and food security. Also included in Sankat’s opening address was a detailed identification of major challenges to food availability and food security in Trinidad and Tobago and the region- “Low interest in the agricultural sector and an aging farm population, low productivity and production levels of commodities, lack of consistent policies, low levels of resources for innovation, technology and creativity research, inadequate financing facilities and inadequate trained people for the sector…These challenges and more need to be addressed so that we can take advantage of the opportunities in the sector for increased food production, accentuation of the value added industries and more importantly to curb the ever increasing dependence on food imports and the high food import bill,” Sankat said.
His assertions were supported by Dominican Director of Agriculture, Ricky Brumant who urged fellow professionals in the regional industry to work together to solve the problems of agriculture by sharing intellectual capital between countries. “If there is a shortage of agricultural economists in Dominica and Barbados and an excess in Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica why can’t we share these human resources between each other?” Brumant asked. “Dominica may lack agricultural engineers but there may be an excess in Trinidad and Tobago.
We have reached a stage where we need to collate and organise our resources in the region towards boosting the sector through a united approach.” Also speaking on the first day of the workshop was CEO of Caribbean Chemicals, Joe Pires, who dared University officials to think outside the box and beyond the current times in preparing human resource capital for the working world. And, in light of new academic programmes for the UWI FFA, Dr. Laura Roberts-Nkrumah commented on the newly offered Undergraduate Diploma in Agricultural Extension and Dr. Wayne Ganpat discussed the proposal of an Undergraduate Diploma in Tropical Agriculture.
“The overall aim of this diploma is to develop the technical competencies of agricultural extension workers in the region so that they could develop and conduct technically sound extension programmes for agricultural producers using the appropriate methods. I see this as a major force in reviving and sustaining the sector amidst the challenges for agriculture in the region,” Ganpat suggested.
Posted by Trinidad and Tobago's Newsday on Saturday, August 2 2014
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