KINGSTON, Jamaica-Agriculture, Fisheries and Mining Minister, Floyd Green, says women and youth must be empowered to access critical resources and equipped with climate smart technology in their operations to ensure the agricultural sector’s sustainability.

He was addressing a Gender-responsive Climate Smart Agriculture and Food Systems in the Caribbean National Inception workshop on Thursday at the Spanish Court Hotel in New Kingston.

Green, who pledged the Government’s support for the programme, said the engagement aligns with the Agriculture Ministry’s focus.

He noted that women and youth face significant barriers to their entry into agriculture, notably access to essential resources, extension services, land ownership, climate smart tools and credit facilities and financial services for their agricultural enterprises.

“Climate-smart technology strengthens our agriculture value chains and builds the capacity of youth and women. We have to pay special attention to these groups. The reality is, when we look at the figures, there is a significant difference in the involvement of our youth and women, especially in small scale agriculture,” said Green.

High Commissioner of Canada to Jamaica, His Excellency Mark Berman, said the initiative is a Can$10.5-million four-year project that runs from 2024 to 2028.

He said the partner stakeholders collaboration on the project’s execution will ensure it successfully contributes to Jamaica’s development priorities to achieve climate-resilient agriculture that supports livelihoods and economic opportunities for farmers.

Thursday’s engagement is the eighth and final inception of the series that has been rolling out across the region over the past few months.

“Following Hurricane Beryl last summer, we must recognise the significant damage sustained by agriculture, food and security and livelihoods for many farmers in Jamaica and across the region. There is an urgency to help farmers recover and support countries to develop sustainable and resilient agrifood systems,” Berman said.

“This project will play an important role to support our shared objectives to eliminate hunger and poverty,” he emphasised.

The project’s objectives are capacity-building, which will see the empowerment of women and youth through training in business modelling, financial planning and climate smart technologies; training in sustainable practices to enhance climate resilience by introducing and promoting climate-smart technologies in agriculture; market access, which will seek to strengthen market linkages for producers, ensuring equitable access to financing and improved market presence; and gender equity which will address gender constraints and promote inclusivity in all value chain activities.

Under the project, the FAO Sub-Regional Office for the Caribbean, in collaboration with the Government of Canada and Ministries of Agriculture and Fisheries, aims to promote the use of climate-smart technologies in agricultural value chains across eight Caribbean countries under the Gender responsive Climate Smart Agriculture and Food Systems in the Caribbean.

Countries involved in the programme are Jamaica, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines and Suriname.

This project, which is being executed by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture, is being facilitated through the support of the Canadian Government.

–         JIS