Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo in his remarks to regional leaders on the expectations of meeting the 20 by 2025 food reduction target, cautioned that it could fail, as did his 2005 agricultural initiative, if an integrated, swift approach doesn’t start immediately, given that there are only two and half years to go and over US$7.5 billion in investments would need to be raised.
“This can’t be too big a task for leaders: you have to go down there [on the ground to meet the people] and you don’t sit in the high offices and ministries or else you can’t respond to the needs of the people and get the agriculture sector going. This process has to be driven by the heads who are here and in a very clear manner with clear direction,” Jagdeo expounded yesterday during a discussion, on day 2 of the Agri-Investment Investment Forum and Expo being held at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre.