Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries Pearnel Charles Jr is currently in Washington on an official visit to identify and expand prospects for agribusiness.

Charles Jr is participating in the two-day 24th annual 24th Annual Invest SMART Caribbean Conference, which concludes today (November 18).

The goal of the forum, under the theme ‘Resetting the Future of Agribusiness Ecosystems’ is to identify improvements to be made in agribusiness value chains to foster sustainable economic development, create policies and strategies to boost backward and forward linkages; and promote linkages between sectors.

INCLUSIVE PROSPERITY FOR THE CARIBBEAN REGION

Further, the forum is addressing the ongoing and emerging challenges facing the agribusiness sector in the region.

The annual forum has been organised by the Institute of Caribbean Studies (ISC) under Invest SMART Caribbean’s ‘Farm the Future’ initiative, launched in 2013, which aims to promote inclusive prosperity for the Caribbean region, through increased attention to and action for SMART policies, programmes and projects that address the challenges and advance the opportunities that impact the long-term success of the agribusiness sector in the Caribbean.

The business dialogue aligns with the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries’ Grow Smart Eat Smart national programme to improve food security through SMART practices and policies.

Charles Jr said: “I will use this opportunity to secure advantageous partnerships for Jamaica to develop new linkages and partnerships with the relevant stakeholders and improve ongoing linkages and partnerships. The success of the Grow Smart Eat Smart national strategy to improve security includes expanding linkages and partnerships to elevate the agriculture and fisheries sector in a tangible way and address many of the issues including funding and limited opportunities for agribusiness and agritourism.

“Through securing these relationships we will bolster our ability to achieve food security, increase economic growth and enhance the livelihoods of our farmers and fisher folk.”

PARTICIPANTS SHARING INCITES

Members of the roundtable include congressional representatives such as Congresswoman Maxine Waters, a longstanding advocate for financial access for the Caribbean and Congressman Gregory Meeks, whose office was hosting the forum. Other participants include thought leaders from US agencies, private sector companies, academia and development practitioners, to discuss strategies and options for energising agribusiness in the Caribbean.

Participants have been sharing their insights on how to create, align and leverage financial, technical, policy and market-expanding resources to develop game-changing and inclusive agribusiness models for the Caribbean region through increased collaboration with the United States.

The first day of the dialogue, held yesterday, focused on policy issues and barriers that impact development of the agribusiness ecosystem, while the second day will focus on leveraging existing business opportunities, while diminishing challenges.

ISC’s SMART ecosystems design approach considers, all the business activities and nature-based services that are performed by the agriculture and fisheries sector – from ‘farm to food’, ‘farm to fuel’, ‘farm to ‘farmaceutical’’, ‘farm to forestry’ and ‘farm to fibre’, and includes fisheries, aquaculture, and agroforestry.

Charles Jr said that “the ministry will continue our tireless efforts to address food security concerns and help to fast-track national and regional efforts to achieve decent jobs and sustainable economies and stem rural to urban migration”.

Topics being discussed at the forum include governance and supplier chain development issues in the specialty food and niche, emerging opportunities: linkages and lessons learned; and recovery and resilience.