– as 32nd COTED opens
Despite numerous policies, initiatives and strategies, the Caribbean Community (Caricom) has not been able to effectively transform its ideas and plans for agriculture into an “acceptable reality”, Secretary-General of the regional grouping Edwin Carrington has acknowledged.
While agriculture has always been a key item on the regional agenda and over the years several initiatives, policies and strategies aimed at strengthening regional agriculture were identified, the region has not yet been able to effectively transform the ideas and plans contained in the myriad documents into an acceptable reality, he declared.
As the 32nd Special Meeting of the Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED) for Agriculture opened in Georgetown yesterday, the Secretary-General said that this is a task that continues to face the region and he challenged the policy makers to make the meeting “truly special by taking decisions, which when the history is written, could be said to have been the turning point in agricultural development in the community”.
In this light, Carrington said that the region must be looked at as one market for agriculture products. “We must therefore remove the barriers to trading among ourselves. We must challenge ourselves to develop the necessary protocols that would truly facilitate trade in agriculture products, while taking into account the need to secure plant and animal health and food safety. One must not be at the expense of the other,” he declared.
He noted that one of the items on the agenda refers to the establishment of the Caribbean Agricultural Health and Food Safety Agency (CAHFSA) recalling that this is one of the priority regional actions identified in the Liliendaal Declaration on Agriculture and Food Security because of the need to facilitate and utilize the opportunities for trade in the Caricom Single Market and Economy.
Carrington referred too to the nine key binding constraints that hinder development of the agriculture sector which were previously identified and stated that these must be addressed.
Meantime, Agriculture Minister Robert Persaud asserted that it is now time to mobilise and “get on with the job”.
In referring to the Liliendaal Declaration, he stated that emphasis must be on delivering on the Jagdeo Initiative – “the key to transforming the region’s agriculture and ensure food and nutrition security”. He said that the operationalisation of CAHFSA, the creation of the associated National Agencies, and the harmonisation of the region’s sanitary and phytosanitary legislation are essential so as to be able to participate in the global market place and even remove barriers to intraregional trade.
“While we are somewhat disappointed at the slow progress being made in respect of market access intra-regionally, we have at the same time been heartened by what has come out of the work of the Expert Caricom Team (ECT). We must identify the financing to allow the ECT to expand its scope and continue its work. In each and every situation where extra-regional goods are being imported into Caricom the member states must be allowed an opportunity to compete,” he asserted.
Stating that production in any of the countries is Caricom production, the minister disclosed that Guyana expects a bumper rice crop, “the highest in recent decades, and it will be expected that all Caricom member states will support the Caribbean rice industry by looking in our direction.
“We must also insist that extra-regional rice, heavily subsidized, is not allowed into the region, and if states do insist, the Common External Tariff must be applied as we also need to ensure that our rice producers have access to our region’s market,” he declared.
