The Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) Fourth Council of Ministers of Agriculture was convened Tuesday, July 25th, 2017 at the National Insurance Services Conference Room in Kingstown.
Member states were urged by SVG’s Minister of Agriculture Hon Saboto Caesar to begin to put the necessary structures in place to lower the region’s food import bill which is estimated to be US 6.5 billion dollars.
OECS Director General Dr. Didacus Jules in addressing the gathering at the opening ceremony cautioned that initiatives at the national and regional levels are not sufficient.
These initiatives have included training and certification in Good Agricultural Practices, upgrading of technical skills in pest risk analysis and the establishment of units in plant health laboratories in several OECS member states:
“Initiatives at the national and regional levels such as the aforementioned are not sufficient to reposition the sector to more meaningfully contribute to the growth and equitable distribution of economic gain.
To do so we need to overcome the challenges of expanding production to meet regional food security needs as well as the requirements of regional and international trade.
These issues cannot be successfully addressed by any single member state by itself or by individual producers or exporters acting independently of each other.”
This Fourth Council of Ministers of Agriculture is yet another step in establishing the Agri-Export Strategy Initiative of the Ministry of Agriculture of St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
This Initiative entails trade among the islands of the sub region being facilitated through a maritime transportation system. Hence the OECS Production, Marketing and Shipping Initiative:
“Thus far the OECS Commission has secured the partnership, service and commitment of two vessels that have commenced the movement of fresh produce from the countries to as far south as Trinidad and Tobago and as far north as St. Thomas.
The initiative has generated interest from external markets such as the UK, Canada and the US and shipments have been made to Canada and the US using Amerijet”
Minister of Agriculture Hon Saboto Caesar in his feature address gave a brief history of Agriculture in the region in the context of colonialism and the slave trade.
The Minister further chronicled the growth of the sector in the region to the point of independent ownership of land and the empowerment of a once subject people in the wealth of the land.
He advised his regional colleagues to put the requisite structures and frameworks in place in their respective countries to operationalize the outcomes of the meetings:
“And I’m really advising the various member states that we have to put the requisite structures and frameworks in place in our countries to operationalize many of the outcomes of the meeting that we are having here today.
There is a big vision for the sub region, the leaders in the sub region are on board, the stakeholders are willing to participate and as we celebrate this year 183 years (of emancipation from slavery) let it not be a ceremonial celebration let us use agriculture to fully understand and express our emancipation we have to think outside of the box we have to appreciate the fact that we are now the owners a post colonial sphere of our future.”
Trade between traditional regional markets like Trinidad and Tobago and Barbados is strengthened under the initiative and expanded to extra-regional and international markets.
The consensus among the regional Ministers is that the initiative is a focal point to do all the things needed to move agriculture forward.
The meeting was attended by representatives of various sectors of government, private sector entities and farmers organisations.