Sub-regional coordinator for the Caribbean from the Food

and Agriculture Organization of the United Nati

(FAO), Dr Renata Clar

will retire from her post

this year after almost three

decades of service.

Based in Barbados, with

more than 30 years’ experience in agri-food systems,

she assumed this, her final

role in April 2019, overseeing

FAO’s programme of work

across 13 English-speaking

Caribbean countries.

Dr Clarke spoke with JIS

News during the Caribbean

Week of Agriculture (CWA),

which ran from September

27 to October 2 at the Ocean

Coral Spring Resort in

Trelawny.

“Most of my career has

been with FAO. I’m retiring

after more than 27 years

with FAO and consulting

with FAO before then. So,

it’s about 30 years with the

FAO. But before then, in my

younger professional career,

a memory that stands out is

one of my first jobs leading

a food science project. I’d

like to think I’m enterprising

and I’m determined, but my

memory of those times is

being very much alone,” she

said.

“I had no colleagues; I had

no equipment. It was just me

magically supposed to make

a difference. And I remember

that sometimes when we’re

working in developing countries over the 30 years, and

I’m aware that we have titles

and department names, but

sometimes people are alone

and are trying to do huge jobs

without support. So, my own

early experience reminds me

of their context and maybe

helps me find better solutions to reach the end,” she

continued.

Born in Canada with

Barbadian roots, Dr Clarke

holds a PhD in Food Science

and Technology from the

Technical University of Nova

Scotia, Canada; a master’s

degree in food science from

the University of Guelph,

Canada, and a Bachelor of

Science in Chemistry from

the University of the West

Indies, Barbados.

Prior to her current

position, she served as head

of FAO’s Food Safety and

Quality Unit at FAO headquarters in Rome, Italy, from

2011 to 2019.

In this role, she led initiatives to strengthen national

capacities for food safety

management and to promote

the effective participation

of developing countries

in the work of the Codex

Alimentarius Commission,

the international food standards-setting body.

Over the past seven years,

Dr Clarke has led efforts to

strengthen FAO’s programme

of work in the Caribbean by

providing concrete support

for the transformation of

the region’s agri-food sector

to become more resilient,

competitive, inclusive, and

sustainable.

“I’ve been in this position

for seven years. Before this,

I was responsible for FAO’s

food safety capacity-building at a global level. Now the

scope of my work is broader.

It’s way beyond food safety.

It’s everything to do with

agri-food sector development but it’s on the ground

in a small geographical area

where I meet farmers, I meet

ministers. Their problems

are not theoretical, they are

real, and we are charged with

finding concrete solutions.

So, it’s been exciting, particularly at this time where agriculture and food security is

really under the microscope.

It’s been an exciting seven

years, and yes, I’m proud that

I have always given it my all,”

she said.

Dr Clarke emphasised that

despite the size of the organisation she has served for

the bulk of her professional

journey, she believes in the

scope for individual interpretation of how to respond to

different circumstances.

“We must represent FAO’s

rules, ideals and principles

but I do believe in the power

of the individual. This is a

reflection that I’m proud of,

and I think I’ve always looked

at situations, made sure I

was respecting all necessary

rules, but I was very willing

to take perhaps difficult interpretations if that is what

I thought the situation called

for.

Sometimes it’s a more difficult road, but at the end of

my career, perhaps it’s one

of the things that makes me

more satisfied,” she said.

During her time, Dr Clarke

led the introduction of

climate-smart innovations

in crop production, including optimised greenhouse

systems and other protective

structures that incorporate

sensors and digital technologies to promote precision

agriculture.

Her work also spanned

water management, the introduction of circular economy

initiatives, the strengthening of national capacities

for disaster preparedness

and response, as well as

support for the sustainable

management of marine resources and the promotion of

aquaculture and mariculture

to reduce pressure on open

fisheries, while promoting

healthy diets and new livelihood opportunities.

Dr Clarke feels slightly

conflicted about retirement,

expressing that while she

“looks forward to being able

to define her own agenda in

her retirement”, on the other

hand, she really does believe

in a lot of the projects she is

leaving behind.

“I’m leaving some of them

incomplete, so there is this

conflict. I would love to see

how this ends, or I would love

to make sure that this lands

in the way I believe it could

land. So, there’s bitter and

sweet. At no stage in my life

have I been able to wake up in

the morning and ask myself,

what do I want to do today?

It’s always conditioned by

what I have to respond to. I’m

very curious, so I’m embracing retirement with curiosity. How will I respond to this

new possibility of defining

my own priorities?” she

said.

“As I said at the beginning,

there are some things that we

have started together — FAO

in the countries and sometimes with other partners —

that I believe will be transformational. And it would

have been great to be there

to the end. So, I will miss

that. But I will be in touch.

I will be following on, I will

be Googling and finding out

where projects went. So, how

can I possibly divorce myself

from something that’s been a

part of my life for so long?”

she said.

A strong advocate for partnerships and collaborations,

Dr Clarke has expanded cooperation with regional organisations, development

partners, the private sector,

and United Nations agencies

to enhance the impact and

the efficiency of technical assistance across the

Caribbean.

Dr Clarke’s legacy extends

beyond the programmes and

initiatives she led and the

partnerships she cultivated,

the people she supported,

mentored, and helped to

build into a stronger FAO

team across the region.

— JIS News