The Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), in partnership with the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Fisheries, Rural Transformation, Industry and Labour, hosted a workshop for public and private sector stakeholders to validate the results of a recent assessment of the Sanitary and Phytosanitary systems in St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
The workshop allowed stakeholders to review the draft report provided by the facilitators, compiled from a recent assessment exercise, using the Performance, Vision Strategy (PVS) assessment tool, and provide additional inputs to enhance the final report. The application of the PVS Tool allows for determination of current levels of performance by characterizing institutional and operational capacities of each food safety service within the national system, measures improvements across the national food control system and creates a shared vision between public and private sector stakeholders on how the services should perform in the future, and collectively define strategic actions that will help modernize the food control system.
Twenty-nine (29) stakeholders participated in the exercise including, public sector representatives from the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Fisheries, Rural Transformation, Industry and Labour, Ministry of Health and Wellness, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade and Consumers Affairs and the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Bureau of Standards. Fresh produce exporters, agro-processors, and a major supermarket chain also participated in the validation exercise. The workshop was facilitated by a multi-agency team including Dr. Janet Lawrence, Ana Maria Cordero and Earllene Crawford (consultant) from IICA’s Agricultural Health, Food Safety and Quality Program, Plant Health Specialist, Plant Health Department, Caribbean Agricultural Health and Food Safety Agency (CAHFSA), Juliet Goldsmith and Research and Resource Assessment, Caribbean Regional Fisheries Mechanism (CRFM), Sanya Compton.
The workshop was held as one of the initial activities in the implementation of the Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) component of the European Union Food Security Program. IICA is implementing the SPS component of the European Union Food Security Program for the Caribbean Region. The SPS component’s objective to improve food-processing capabilities, to increase regional distribution through the removal of sanitary and phytosanitary bottlenecks. It is valued at €3 Million and for a duration of 4 years, with IICA as the executing agency, working collaboratively with our affiliates: Caribbean Regional Fisheries Mechanism (CRFM), Caribbean Agricultural Health and Food Safety Agency (CAHFSA) and of course our partners in the various countries. The SPS component targets, as it main beneficiaries public sector (regulatory and inspection services, competent authorities, laboratories) and Private sector beneficiaries (including women and youth).
