During the week of 18–23 January, the Ministry of Agriculture hosted the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), which is the executing agency for the Agriculture Policy Program (APP) Caribbean Action. The APP comprises 3 components:
- The Regional Agriculture Policy and Strategy – Caricom Secretariat
- Applied Research, Technology and Innovation – CARDI
- Enterprise Development and Market Linkages – IICA
The Ministry of Agriculture and the APP implementing partners convened to host a ‘Dialogue 4 Development (D4D) Forum’, to take an inventory of, and disseminate information from technical outputs to date and also to engage 2 key sets of beneficiaries — The Ministry of Agriculture planners and The Youth in Agriculture planners.
The sessions over the course of the week included the following:
- Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Security Forum – This supported the coordination efforts of agricultural agencies which meet monthly to support and promote the agricultural policies, strategies and programmes
- A Technical Advisory Committee Forum – To review the APP performance reports and the 2016 work plan which covered operational aspects and implementation strategies
- Thematic Group and Priority Commodity Industry Development Forum – This forum covered 4 thematic groups:
- Agricultural Health Food and Safety Systems
- Business Development
- Human Resources and Research Development
- Climate Change and Natural Resource Management.
- Agriculture Planners Policy Forum – A technical meeting and policy orientation/training to provide planners in Ministries of Agriculture with a forum to engage and discuss critical technical issues, and share experiences and outcomes of the policy support delivered at a national level.
- Youth in Agriculture Forum – This forum was dedicated to promoting successful youth in agri-business and widening the ‘Youth in Agriculture’ network, to provide hands on youth to youth business exposure and grooming, among other purposes deemed important to the youth in attendance.
Acting Permanent Secretary with responsibility for Agriculture, Lands and the Environment Mrs Merina Jessamy, who was in attendance, stated that the meetings were successful and the participation of young persons with a vested interest in Agriculture was encouraging. It shows that agriculture has a future in the Caribbean region.
 The Ministry of Agriculture was pleased to have been selected as the host of the ‘Dialogue 4 Development Forum’ and looks forward to continued partnership and cooperation with the APP implementing partners and all other collaborators.
Ministry of Agriculture