Agriculture and Fisheries Minister, Hon. Pearnel Charles Jr, has called for more collaboration with the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) to boost local and regional agricultural output and food security.

The Minister made the remarks while at the 37th Session of the FAO Regional Conference for Latin America and the Caribbean being held in Quito, Ecuador, from March 28- April 1, 2022.

On Wednesday, he addressed a forum of fellow agriculture ministers and technocrats from across the region where he called for more collaboration to support Jamaica’s growing agriculture and fisheries sector.

Minister Charles Jr highlighted the joint initiatives of the FAO and Jamaica, which include the Home-Grown School Feeding Programme, a national school feeding programme that involves small farmers and suppliers of local food, as well as a $35-million support to the Buy Back Programme that assists with the collection and redistribution of produce to areas of need.

The FAO provided assistance to Jamaica under its resilience in Agriculture and Market Systems for COVID-19 Response Project by supplying cold chain facilities and technical tools to strengthen the resilience of agri-food systems and reduce waste.     

The Minister, however, said that there is a need for further partnership to build a resilient, inclusive and sustainable agricultural sector for generations to come.

“Locally, Jamaica is seeking to develop sustainable food systems, by driving agribusiness, by modernizing a more efficient agriculture sector and by supporting our government’s medium-term strategic priorities and being a significant contributor and the key driver of growth in our country,” the minister said.

The Minister went on to highlight some areas for improvement.

“While at a country level our best strategies are integrated into our medium-term business plans, there are several constraints. There is need to advance more integrated land and water management for sustainable agri-food systems, innovative approaches, partnerships, solutions, financing and delivery mechanisms supported by close collaboration between research and development, and also the need for us to scale up climate action, particularly for countries that are most vulnerable to climate change.”

Among the recommendations made by the Minister for the local sector are the provision of technical assistance to promote and develop value chain actors with technical and managerial capacities and digital tools to develop competitive and resilient agro-enterprises, increased investments in competitive and resilient agro-enterprises and implementation of financial instruments and services as well as risk management mechanisms for efficient and inclusive agricultural food systems

Promoting modernization of the sector, the Minister added that there is also need for assistance at the regional and sub-regional (LARC) and sub-regional (Caribbean) level for technical assistance to address the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on rural livelihoods and to promote rural economic activities to build productive, innovative, and inclusive rural societies, as well as technical assistance for coordinated and inclusive policy design, through improving the coherence and coordination between social, economic and environmental policies to protect livelihoods and increase resilience;  nutrition and gender-sensitive rural livelihood programmes, input transfers, and productive assistance;  and providing support to improve land access and tenure and natural resources rights – particularly for small farmers, rural women and youth, improving access to information and communications (ICT) systems, including governance mechanisms to make science and innovative digital technologies more accessible to SMEs and small farmers, and increased investments.

Other areas of partnership, he outlined, included supporting public-private partnerships to strengthen national innovation systems and provide technical assistance and capacity development for the implementation of mobile-based innovations for development, including digital extension, real-time price and market information, agricultural insurance, weather forecasting, pest and disease detection, precision agriculture, nutrition-sensitive agricultural strategies, improved seeds, agro-ecological technical advice, agricultural value chains, digital, post-harvest and financial innovations - particularly for the integration of women and youth.  This effort should also involve the strengthening of livelihoods in coastal communities threatened by climate change.

The Minister expressed appreciation to the FAO for its support over the years and noted that the government of Jamaica remained committed to advancing climate action, placing women and youth at the forefront, and providing stakeholders with resources to integrate into the current and future direction of the agriculture sector. 

The Minister will continue discussions on Thursday, March 31 where he is expected to meet with the Director-General of the FAO, Qu Dongyu.

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