Plans underway for Caribbean agriculture week in October

The Caribbean Community (Caricom) made public their arrangements for moving forward with the Caribbean Week of Agriculture (CWA) event. 

The theme of the CWA event is ‘Linking the Caribbean for Regional Food and Nutrition Security and Rural Development.’ The CWA event will be held in Guyana (hosted by the local Government) from October 4 - 12, 2013 featuring fisheries and forestry. 

The objective of the event is to "enable the key decision-makers in the public and private sectors to better acknowledge the importance of agriculture and rural life to the economic, social and environmental stability of the region [and] [i]t is also geared to provide major stakeholders in agriculture and related sectors with an opportunity to dialogue and forge a common vision for the repositioning of agriculture and the enhancement of rural life."

Activities will begin on October 4, 2013 with a formal opening on October 9, 2013. 

To read more on CWA's upcoming activities, please click the link provided: 
Plans underway for Caribbean agriculture week in October

Agriculture in Trinidad and Tobago: How Do We Move Forward?

From Farming to Agribusiness:

Dr. Sharon Hutchinson, Lecturer at the Department of Agricultural Economics and Extension, Faculty of Food and Agriculture, UWI, St Augustine Campus, Trinidad states the following:

By the 1960s, the plantation economy of Trinidad and Tobago looked like so many others in the Caribbean, typified by the presence of several large farms owned by the social upper class. The agricultural sector grew largely due to the export of raw agricultural products to the UK and other European countries. 

In 1965, approximately 22 per cent of the labour force was employed in the agricultural sector (Trinidad and Tobago. CSO 1975, 2). By 1977, the key agricultural exports were sugar (139,506 tonnes), molasses (30,768 tonnes), raw cocoa (3,168 tonnes), raw coffee (1,608 tonnes) and citrus (527 tonnes) (Trinidad and Tobago. CSO 1987, 118). The sector was successful mainly because there were well established marketing arrangements and world agricultural product prices were relatively high.

Adapted from First Magazine.
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Regional Strategic Planning and ICT conferences for Fisheries

BELIZE CITY, BELIZE; FRIDAY, JANUARY 25, 2013 - The Caribbean island of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, home to the Eastern Caribbean Office of the Caribbean Regional Fisheries Mechanism (CRFM), will next week host Chief Fisheries Officers, Directors of Fisheries or Senior Fisheries Officers, and Technical ICT Officers responsible for fisheries management, data management and communication from Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago.

The regional professionals will be meeting for the ACP Fish II/CRFM regional technical consultation dubbed Strengthening the Capacity of CRFM and its Member States for Information and Knowledge Sharing on Sustainable Management of Fisheries in the Caribbean Region, slated for January 28 and 29 at the Sunset Shore Beach Hotel in Kingstown...

To read more on Regional Strategic Planning and ICT conferences for Fisheries 

Adapted from Anguilla News

T&T hosts talks on regional agriculture

Today is the second and final day of a meeting of one of the technical management advisory committees (TMAC) set up by Caricom to look at co-ordination of agricultural research and development in the region. This TMAC was set up to define ways to address one of the ten key binding constraints, as identified in the Jagdeo Initiative, namely “Inadequate Research and Development.” It is led by the Ministry of Agriculture, St Lucia and convened by the Caribbean Agricultural Research and Development Institute (Cardi).

Hubert Emmanuel, permanent secretary at St Lucia’s Ministry of Agriculture, is chairing the sessions at the Hyatt Regency, Port-of-Spain. The Jagdeo Initiative is a strategy for removing constraints to the development of agriculture in the Caribbean. It builds upon past regional efforts to develop a common agricultural policy (CAP) and identifies ten key binding constraints faced by the sector, with resulting necessary actions.

The anticipated outcome of this meeting is agreement on the way forward for a regional strategy for research and development; a strategy for linkages with Latin America; and identification of essentials to address climate change. 

Officials at this meeting include representatives of Caricom, the Ministry of Food Production, the University of the West Indies, the University of Guyana, the University of T&T, the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) and the Inter-American Institute for Co-operation on Agriculture (IICA).

Adapted from the Guardian Media Limited (Guardian Newspaper).

Tamil Nadu Agriculture varsity to conduct short course on ICT initiative

The Tamil Nadu Agricultural University has implemented it summer school on Information and Communication Technology (ICT) for Inclusive Agriculture Development. The start date was July 3, 2013.

The summer school comprises of a  21-day short course on the  potential of ICT driven extension, ICT-based market intelligence, E-commerce and Futures marketing. These topics will assist in the following areas  forecasting, gender mainstreaming, cloud computing, remote sensing and harnessing mobile technology for agriculture advisory service.

The school is sponsored by the Indian Council for Agriculture Research.

The course will be attended by  25 extension scientists from Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Manipur, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.

To read more on Tamil Nadu Agriculture varsity to conduct short course on ICT initiative, please click the link provided.

ROLES OF ICT IN AGRICULTURE

ICT has played a great role in both the social and economic development of our society. 

The Agriculture Sector has benefited from the ICT revolution and the latest innovation in ICT. The use of ICT in agriculture ranges from old technology to advanced modern technologies, for example radio, television, GPS navigation, satellite communication, and wireless connectivity.

The rural communities are known to lack the basic communication infrastructure, therefore ICT in agriculture would be of benefit in the following ways: 

• Mobile phones - improvement in the efficiency and profitability of the agriculture industry. Mobile phones allows farmers to interact with wholesaler directly.

• Radio and television - sharing of information on various innovation in agricultural technology.

• The internet - rural communities can stay up to date by sending and receiving information about the market and other necessary information in the industry. 

In order for farmers to part take in today's business more information and technology is needed.

To read more: ROLES OF ICT IN AGRICULTURE

St Lucia and Chile Strengthens Bilateral Relations

St. Lucia and Chile are focused on strengthening their bilateral ties. The St. Lucia Governor General Dame Pearlette Louisy accepted the credentials of Chile's Ambassador, Eduardo Bonilla. Chile has contributed significantly to St. Lucia's development in agriculture, Spanish language, and diplomacy training over the last two decades.

Governor General Dame Pearlette Louisy stated, “Saint Lucia has benefited from Chile’s bi-lateral cooperation with CARICOM States and we look with eager anticipation to greater collaboration between the region and Chile within the framework of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States".

To read more: St Lucia and Chile Strengthens Bilateral Relations