SAN JOSE, Costa Rica, CMC – Caribbean Community (Caricom) agriculture ministers have pointed to the need for increasing the sector’s resilience to the climate crisis, improving productivity to reduce food import dependence and incorporating new technologies to attract more young people to agriculture.

The ministers outlined their position during a meeting convened by the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) with a view to determining a roadmap for this region, which urgently needs to reduce its food insecurity and to better equip itself to tackle the climate crisis.

During the meeting, which was also attended by the IICA Director General, Manuel Otero, the regional agriculture ministers gave the work of the organisation a decisive vote of confidence and recognised the value of the technical cooperation projects that are being implemented in the Caribbean to strengthen small farmers, incorporate new technologies and bolster agricultural resilience, among other objectives.

IICA has 34 member states in the Americas with 14 of them being in the Caribbean and Otero stressed the importance of IICA maintaining offices in every one of the countries.

Jamaica’s Agriculture Minister, Floyd Green, underscored the continuous focus that IICA has demonstrated with respect to agriculture and the food security situation in the Caribbean.

“In our country, most farmers are small farmers. More than 80 per cent have plots that are less than two hectares in size and they are the ones that are most vulnerable to climate change. One of our problems is water and we are finding it difficult to increase irrigation”.

Guyana’s Agriculture Minister, Zulfikar Mustapha, explained that the Caricom countries have set themselves the target of achieving a 25 per cent reduction in their food imports by 2025.

“I would like to recognise the tremendous support that IICA has lent us on various projects, for example, to improve rice production, combat pests and diseases, and to devise strategies to tackle climate change,” Mustapha said.

His Antigua and Barbuda counterpart, Everly Greene, said that the COVID-19 experience has taught the region to take the matter of food security very seriously.

“For example, today we want to harness the abundant resources of the oceans to supply water for agriculture. It is somewhat costly, but we can do it. He agreed that IICA’s cooperation had produced results, not only in the field, but in the minds of people,” Greene said.

Barbados Agriculture Minister, Indar Weir, spoke of the importance of IICA’s work in his country to incorporate women and youth into the agriculture sector, saying “”in general, agriculture has been associated with long work days and minimal compensation, but now people are realising that things have changed and this is because of the support we have received”.

Grenada’s Agriculture Minister, Adrian Thomas, said that Grenadians are heavy consumers of meat, which the country has to import.

“The food import bill is alarming. We want to be self-sufficient in chicken and the other meats that we consume”, he said, noting that for Grenada, the increased efficiency of agricultural activity has become a priority.

His St Kitts-Nevis counterpart, Samal Mojah Duggins, agreed that reduced dependence on food imports is also a critical need.

“We have a far way to go in terms of capacity development. Our problem is cultural and IICA has been assisting us in this area. We can do much more to add value to our crops. With political will, everything is possible,” Weir said.

St Vincent and the Grenadines Agriculture MInister, Saboto Caesar, said that IICA has always made itself available to assist Kingstown and that his country is aiming to improve its food and nutritional security.

“We have a plan for this, and along with the other Eastern Caribbean States have our focus placed on 2025. In St Vincent and the Grenadines, we are seeking to stimulate production and exploring the area of agro-processing”, said Caesar, who also pointed out the important collaboration between IICA and the Community of Latin America and the Caribbean (CELAC) – an organisation in which St. Vincent and the Grenadines currently holds the pro tempore Presidency.

Haiti’s Agriculture Minister, Charlot Bredy expressed the hope for the development of a joint cooperation strategy in tackling the problem of food security.

“IICA serves as a cooperation bridge between countries, which is critical for the most disadvantaged among us,” he said, while St Lucia’s Agriculture Minister,Alfred Prosper, said “the challenges we face in the agriculture sector are many: climate change, the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine, all of which are driving up the costs of agricultural imports”.

Prosper felt that one of the key problems is the fact that the farming population is getting older and that strategies to attract young people must be expanded.

Also addressing the topic was Avinash Singh, of Trinidad and Tobago, who said that threats to food security will increase if the upcoming generations do not become involved in food production.

“We must digitalise technology so that data and information can be collected for farmers to use in decision-making,” he said.