Food security among key issues at COTED forum

May 21, 2008 News

…27th special meeting a precursor to agro-investment forum

The Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED) will today host the Twenty-Seventh Special Meeting on Agriculture and Food Security as a precursor to the Agriculture Investment Forum to be held next month.

The meet will see addresses by COTED Chair Dr Christopher Tufton, Agriculture Minister of Jamaica, and local Agriculture Minister Robert Persaud at the meeting which will be held at Le Meridien Pegasus. The COTED meeting is expected to address, among other items, a review of the project promoting CARICOM/CARIFORUM food security and consideration of the work plan and budget of the Caribbean Regional Fisheries Mechanism (CRFM).

Regional Agriculture officials, after a full day of frank exchange of views on Monday, distilled the main issues to be put before their ministers today.

The consensus among officials is that, in the context of the current food scenario, today’s meeting will not be a “talk shop” of ministers responsible for agriculture; rather, the thrust will be that different, more aggressive measures are needed to build a sustainable foundation for the agriculture sector.
The officials and regional agricultural organisations expressed their concerns on a number of issues, including the need for more public and private investments in the sector, the use of land in the Community, praedial larceny, crop insurance, transportation and trade within the Region.

The results of the meet will be inculcated in the upcoming agriculture investment forum.

The investment forum is being held because, according to Head of State, President Bharrat Jagdeo, Guyana has been unable to move from simply expressions of interest by Caribbean agriculture investors as it relates to Guyana’s land use for expanding agricultural ventures, and to aid in providing more food for Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries.

He pointed to the major agriculture investment forum to be held in Guyana in June, which he said will not be just another conference to issue another declaration at the end, but to bring together those who wish to invest in agriculture together with bankers as well as Government officials in order to create opportunities for specific projects. He reiterated that the forum’s objective is to see how much business could be done in agriculture.

“That’s the only way we’ll move forward. We have heard Trinidad has expressed interest, but, unfortunately, we have been unable to move beyond expressions of interest. When we try to pin down specific projects we have not had much success,” President Jagdeo said.

The Special meet by COTED is being held in light of the fact that, already, citizens in a number of countries have been protesting the rising prices of foods items, including those in India, Haiti and Trinidad and Tobago.

As a result of the rising prices, it has been estimated that over 100 million persons have slipped from the middle class to the ranking of the poor.

With a number of CARICOM countries already affected by the crisis, CARICOM has been looking at Guyana, with its abundant land and agriculture experience, as the place to start the expansion of food production and promotion of food security in the region.

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Food security among key issues at COTED forum

…27th special meeting a precursor to agro-investment forum

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