A €8.6 million programme to boost the region’s agriculture sector, particularly small producers, was inked yesterday between the European Union (EU) and the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation in Agriculture (IICA).
The four-year Intra ACP Agriculture Policy Project is aimed at increasing the capabilities of agricultural development organizations within the Caribbean to address the development needs of agricultural “smallholders.” It is expected that by the end of the implementation period, all involved will experience improved policies and incentive regimes and strengthened institutional and development capacity to support productivity and profitability of the region’s small agri-based producers/entrepreneurs. This in turn is expected to also contribute to the wider development goal of household food security in the region.
Head of the EU Delegation to Guyana, Ambassador Robert Kopecky said that the signing signaled the commencement of the Agriculture Policy Project, which is to be implemented over the next 45 months. Signing for IICA was its Trinidadian Representative, Gregg Rawlins, who opined that the agreement would address the development needs of the small and medium scale agriculture producers.
Rawlins said that the initiative is a multi-dimensional one which will address both policy as well as technical components of the sector. Priority support will be provided in three distinct, yet mutually reinforcing critical components, namely the enabling policy environment; applied technology, research and innovation and entrepreneurship development; and local- national-regional- global market linkages.
It is widely known that Caribbean countries, including Guyana which is touted as the Caribbean’s “bread basket,” generate a substantial amount of their Gross Domestic Product (GDP) from the production and trade of agricultural produce. However, there are significant challenges that face these countries and the small and medium scale farmers who form the core of their agriculture sector.
“We would all agree that there is not enough locally grown food on our plates in the Caribbean and local farmers are not always paid adequately for their hard work,” a statement from the EU Delegation said. “In the CARIFORUM Region we are all aware that the Caribbean region faces challenges from climate change, natural disasters, high food prices, small internal markets and reliability on a few export commodities,” Kopecky was quoted as saying.
The initiative, said Kopecky, will foster the promotion of smallholder agriculture and will allow for closer integration into local, national, regional, and where appropriate, global markets. He opined that these efforts should lead to a more diversified production and sustainable food security, which will reduce the strain on consumers caused by the soaring food prices and assist agricultural exporters in dealing with the challenges posed by the international health standards.
Agriculture Minister Dr. Leslie Ramsammy said that the issue of meeting international health standards in especially important, where Guyana and other primary agriculture producers are concerned. Guyana has long struggled in its agriculture trade, particularly as it relates to meeting the sanitary and phytosanitary standards employed by many states.
Ramsammy said that the investment is crucial as it will assist small and medium scale farmers to improve on these standards.
Lystra Fletcher-Paul, the Food and Agriculture Organisation representative to Guyana, said that the funding is not only crucial to development, but also timely since the government of Guyana is facing some financial difficulties. She said that if our agriculture sector is to be improved there needs to be significant investments in research and development.
The funding will be used for this purpose, among others.
Rawlins said that though the signatories to the agreement are the EU and IICA, it is important that all regional stakeholders, including the Caribbean Agricultural Research and Development Institute (CARDI), Cariforum, Caricom, and the Caribbean Agribusiness Association (CABA), play their parts. There are also a number of other institutions and stakeholder associations and networks that will be involved in this process.
Rawlins said that regional projects are usually challenging because of the problems which occur while trying to coordinate and execute objectives across large regional territories. Nevertheless, he maintained that if this project is to be successful “it cannot be business as usual.”
Meantime, Kopecky said that considering the state of the economies of both EU and Cariforum countries, the best must be demanded and expected from the initiative. He said that IICA was selected to implement this project on behalf of the Cariforum countries, since it was recognised as one of the premier organisations involved in agriculture, both at the technical and community levels. He said that based on an institutional assessment, IICA’s rules and procedures allows the EU to confidently disburse the funds, knowing that it will be well managed.
President Donald Ramotar noted that food has become a very important subject in the international arena. He said that agriculture is taking on growing importance largely because the production of food is competing with the development of land for purposes other than agriculture. He also noted the fact the world’s population has grown and continues to grow at an exponential rate, and with it, the demand for food.
Ramotar said that Guyana and the wider region possess the ability to contribute to our own, and the world’s food security, but stressed that we are unable to do so with current levels and quality of production. “The region has great capacity which remains heavily under utilised which, if changed can allow us to improve the world’s food security,” Ramotar said.
Following Ramotar’s statements, Kopecky added that as the purchasing power of the largest economies grow, so will their demand for goods, particularly exotic foods such as those found in the region. He said that it is therefore important that investments continue to be made in the development of their ability to strengthen world food security.
Pointing to the region’s deficiencies, Ramotar explained that the Caribbean currently expends approximately US$4 billion on food importation.
He said that if countries in the region can take advantage of their abilities to produce food, they can use those funds to develop other sectors of the country.
Kopecky said that the potential for improvement in Guyana is tremendous and expressed hope that one day, probably after the full implementation of this project, the country will regain its title as the “food basket of the Caribbean.
