Not abandoned

The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) has not abandoned the Jagdeo Initiative on Agriculture, but has been disappointingly slow in its implementation, said regional Ministers of Agriculture. In 2003, the Jagdeo initiative, named for former President of Guyana, Bharrat Jagdeo, identified and defined the key constraints facing agricultural development in the Caribbean . The initiative has been endorsed throughout CARICOM for its thorough analysis of the state of agriculture, its hard look at internal and external factors and for deepening the discussion of fundamental areas that need improvement, reform and/or initiation. The regional Agriculture Ministers made the statement at CARICOM’s Council on Trade and Economic Development (COTED) on Agriculture on 11th October, the final day of Caribbean Week of Agriculture. “I think coming out of today’s meeting, what is one of the greatest highlights for me is the fact that we all would have recognize that as a region we are long overdue to deliver to our people on food security and nutrition,” said chair of the COTED on agriculture, Grenada’s Minister of Agriculture, Roland Boulder. “We believe that we have the capacity to do it, we believe that we have the human resource,” he said, adding that further training in human development and research and development are needed. Boulder said that the meeting discussed CARICOM’s progress on the implementation of the Jagdeo Initiative.

Courtesy: www.cananewsonline.com