Ministers of Agriculture of the Caribbean are meeting today (Tuesday) at the
headquarters of the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA)
in San Jose, Costa Rica.
In attendance is Antigua and Barbuda’s Minister of Agriculture, E.P. Chet Greene.
The ministers will participate in working meetings with Manuel Otero, Director
General of the hemispheric agency, specializing in agricultural and rural
development, to explore cooperation opportunities with Latin America, to reduce
food insecurity levels in the Caribbean region.
The ministers will also exchange views and information on the outlook for the
agriculture sector in the various countries and will discuss current and future IICA
actions, aimed at increasing the productivity and resilience of food production in
Caribbean countries, which are particularly vulnerable to the impact of climate
change.
Fourteen of IICA’s 34 Member States are Caribbean nations, all of which are
undertaking efforts to reduce their historical dependence on food imports.
The meeting will include a presentation on the main challenges facing agriculture
and rural development in the Caribbean by specialists of the Public Policy
Observatory for Agrifood Systems (OPSAa). Launched by IICA in 2022, the
initiative has become an important tool for helping countries navigate a period of
uncertainty and instability triggered by a confluence of crises.
The meeting of Caribbean ministers will be held before the Forty-third Regular
Meeting of IICA’s Executive Committee, which will be held on July 19 and 20 in
San Jose, Costa Rica.
One of IICA’s governing bodies, the Executive Committee meets once a year. It is
comprised of 12 Member States, elected for two-year terms according to the
principles of partial rotation and equitable geographical distribution.
Indar Weir, Minister of Agriculture and Food Security of Barbados will assume a
two-year chairmanship of the Executive Committee at its meeting, which will be
attended by ministers and senior agricultural officials from the hemisphere.
The Hemispheric Initiative on Water and Agriculture, which will seek to develop
tools to mitigate the consequences of the water deficit in the hemisphere, will be
launched during the event.
