CaFAN Newsletter 10 Agrivybz

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AGRIVYBZ is the official Newsletter publication of the Caribbean Farmers Network (CaFAN)

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Managing Editor: Jethro Greene | Administrative Support and Editor: Nyasha Durrant |

Contributors: Jeffrey Trotman, A. Murray & R. Penny | Design & Layout: Jeffrey Trotman

The 2010 Caribbean Week of Agriculture (CWA) was held in Grenada under the theme ““Sustainable Agriculture Development to Achieve Food and Nutrition Security”. With funding from the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) under the European Union All ACP Agricultural Commodities Programme (EU AAACP), a team of five persons represented the Caribbean Farmers Network (CaFAN) Secretariat. Among the activities CaFAN was involved in included setting up of an exhibition booth which displayed publications, crops grown and a video display of activities implemented by the network since its inception. There were also two presentations made at (1) the CTA briefing on Strengthening Entrepreneur groups to influence policy design and implementation and (2) the FAO Value Chain Promotion Seminar. Several appearances were made by Chief Coordinator of CaFAN, Mr. Jethro Greene on television and radio programmes including the one hour radio programme called ‘Top Soil’ hosted by Mr. Roderick St. Clair, Marketing Manager of the Marketing and National Importing Board (MNIB) of Grenada. One of the major highlights of the week of agriculture was the hosting of CaFAN’s food night under the theme “Eat Caribbean, Eat Local, Eat Fresh: Promoting Regional Food and Nutrition Security”. This event took place directly following the official opening of the CWA on Thursday October 21

st, 2010.

CaFAN Newsletter

Issue 10

IN THIS ISSUE

Hurricane Tomas ......2 CaFAN on the Move ......3 Caribbean media challenged to highlight agriculture……4 Praedial Larceny: The Fight Goes On ......5 Transforming Agriculture through Food Security ……6 EU officials evaluate AAACP Caribbean project ………8 CTA continues to support CaFAN ………10 Kuru Kururu Farmers benefit from training …………10 CaFAN contributes to CTA’s 5 year Strategic Plan ……11 ECTAD identifies key crops for CaFAN regional import substitution programme …12 CaFAN strengthens relationship with COADY… 13

About CaFAN…………........15

CaFAN recruits new volunteers…………………16

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Editor’s Note

Dear Readers,

The banana is one of the healthiest, delicious and unique tropical fruits; it is

high in potassium and low in salt, making it the perfect food for helping to

beat high blood pressure. It also helps to normalize the heart beat, sends

oxygen to the brain and regulates the body’s water-balance. Bananas are

high in B vitamins that help to calm the nervous system making it another

ideal food in the fight against stress.

Recently, the banana production in Saint Lucia and St. Vincent and the

Grenadines has been completely destroyed by the passage of Hurricane

Tomas. Nonetheless, because of its significance to our region’s food and

nutrition security, plans have already been put in place to restart the

production of bananas, with assistance being given to farmers in St. Vincent

and the Grenadines.

The sudden impact of natural disasters on our agriculture food production is

eye-opening enough for important measures to be put in place to protect our

food supplies and also safeguard the income and livelihood of small

farmers.

CARICOM, with the input of key agricultural stakeholders has developed a

Regional Food and Nutrition Security (RFNS) policy document which seeks

to address food insecurity within the region and provide a strategy for

feeding the region in times of natural and other disasters that will impact

food availability.

The Caribbean Farmers Network (CaFAN) has made significant

contributions into the final RFNS policy document and will continue to work

with all stakeholders to ensure that there is a constant and consistent supply

of food, while at the same time, ensuring that support is provided to farmers

who are our main food producers.

Nyasha Durrant Projects Coordinator

CaFAN

Hurricane Tomas

devastates the

region’s Agricultures Hurricane Tomas has devastated agricultural production in Saint Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and, to a lesser extent, Barbados during October 29 and 31, 2010.

According to reports and on site visits, the northern areas of St. Vincent, and the Southern areas of Saint Lucia have been seriously damaged and have been declared disaster areas.

According to a report from Vincentia Fatal, CaFAN focal point representative in Saint Lucia, the area most affected was Fond St Jacques, which is one of the largest farming communities with a resident population of approximately 2,000 people, most of whom are farmers and farm labourers. The various landslides completely washed away the roads used by farmers to access their farms in the area call Derache and farmers cannot get to their produce in the ground.

There were also lots of damages to greenhouses and many farmers lost their crops by floods and the wind battered all fields in the area. Banana production was totally devastated and it was reported that an estimate of 90% of the agriculture sector was damaged in Saint Lucia.

In St. Vincent, a team from ECTAD visited the affected areas to see the widespread devastation in the banana industry and tree crops such as breadfruit and vegetable production that were severely affected. All hope is not lost as root crop production is still intact with minor damage to fields due to landslides.

The Ministry of Agriculture in St. Vincent has been doing farm evaluations and compensation will be made to banana farmers, which include monies for farm labourers and fertilizers to restart the production of the banana industry.

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CaFAN on the Move: An update on recent activities Hurricane Tomas St. Lucia and St. Vincent and the Grenadines banana and plantain crops were devastated and there was disruption of normalcy in Barbados by the recent passage of Hurricane Thomas. CaFAN regrets the loss of lives in St. Lucia and we assure our members that the CaFAN family will support them to pick themselves up. We are trying to figure out the type of help that the CaFAN family can provide to our members, particularly in St. Lucia

CaFAN will also be monitoring relief assistance to ensure that they are adequately distributed to farmers.

x x x x x

CARICOM engagement Recently, CARICOM engaged CaFAN’s leadership on the subject of the CSME and small farmers and ways of using public relations and communications to involve CaFAN membership in the Caribbean Single Market and the Economy (CSME).

Steve Mangal, National Coordinator of GAPA, Guyana, was one of the consultants for this project. He worked tirelessly to ensure that CaFAN was put at the focal point of any project for future implementation. As a result of this effort Sis Dhano Sookoo of the Agricultural Society of Trinidad and Tobago (ASTT), Bro Jethro Greene and Sis Gerda Beckles of Suriname, participated in the final stakeholders’ consultation where Sis Sookoo lead the charge of ensuring that CaFAN was at the centre of future project development. As a result, CARICOM is offering both financial and technical assistance to CaFAN from this project activity.

CaFAN has already indicated the willingness of the network to accept CARICOM’s offer to be put on their delegation to countries like Jamaica, Suriname, Belize, Dominica, Bahamas and later on, Haiti, so that CaFAN could use the opportunity to develop its membership base in those countries.

x x x x x

CARICOM Regional Food & Nutrition Security Policy Document (RFNS) Ms. Shari Niles supported by Jethro Greene and with input from the entire membership, participated in the final preparation of the RFNS policy document. The final document includes a number of suggestions from CaFAN in which we clearly articulated the position of the farmer and rural households.

Ms. Niles was highly commended for her representation by the CARICOM team.

x x x x x

Other CARICOM Initiatives Sis Dhano Sookoo, Bros. Steve Mangal and Jethro Greene have accepted CARICOM’s offer for them to make input on behalf of CaFAN in CARICOM’s regional agriculture and agribusiness policies.

Please feel free to share any input with the Secretariat for us to consider as we embark in trying to influence the overall CARICOM agriculture policy.

CTA continues to support CaFAN Relationship with CTA is on the upswing as the new Director of CTA, Dr. Michael Hailu and the CTA Division that deals with CaFAN’s regional programmes have taken a very favourably engaging position with CaFAN. At the CTA strategic planning meeting in Holland where Jethro Greene was the lone representative from the Caribbean, significant input was made on CaFAN’s strong position of putting farmers/producers as one of the key centres of CTA activity.

x x x x x

CTA is also providing CaFAN with support this year to produce two newsletters, a membership needs assessment survey to be carried out in each CaFAN member country, two agriculture fact sheets and a crop production planning workshop.

x x x x x

World Bank support to CaFAN The World Bank is allocating resources for training CaFAN members in agriculture risk mitigation. This is to be done in conjunction with CARDI. The training is to be coordinated by CARDI and Ms. Keeley Holder, one of CaFAN’s agriculture advisors, who is supervising this programme.

x x x x x

FAO collaboration with CaFAN FAO continues collaboration with CaFAN with its provision of financial assistance to four CaFAN members to develop their root crops sector under the EU AAACP. The members are North East Farmers Organization (NEFO) in Grenada; ECTAD in St. Vincent and the Grenadines; Christiana Potato Growers Society in Jamaica; and GAPA, Kuru Kuru in Guyana.

Continues on page 15…

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Mr. Michael Hailu, CTA Director

Caribbean media challenged to highlight

agriculture

The new CTA Director, Michael Hailu, has given the media in the Caribbean a challenge to increase its focus on agriculture and climate change. Speaking at the opening of the three-day CTA sponsored regional Media Experts Seminar for the Caribbean on 20 October, 2010, the CTA Director pointed to new opportunities for the region’s agriculture to obtain a larger slice of the value chains that exist for agricultural and agri-products within the new international trade environment. He also referred to the growing concerns relating to climate change. Hailu pointed to the challenge of engaging the media to spark public debate on these issues. He also pointed to the challenge the media face and would experience in attempting to interpret the language of technical people in agriculture and vice versa in this new thrust to bring agricultural matters and climate change to the public in ways that they can understand and appreciate.

Head of CTA’s Communications Department, Mme Ouymy Ndiaye, endorsed the concerns of the CTA Director as she gave an overview of the workshop.

During the three-day exercise, José Fonseca, CTA’s Senior Programme Coordinator, introduced Lindiwe Majele Sibanda of South Africa, the Chief of Mission of FANRPAN, a network of thirteen African countries, representing government, farmers’ organizations, private sector and recreation with the stated mission: “to promote effective food, agriculture and natural resources (FANR) policies by facilitating linkages and partnerships between government and civil society; building the capacity for policy analysis and policy dialogue in southern Africa; and supporting demand-driven policy research and analysis.

Over thirty media experts from across the Caribbean participated at the media workshop, which included audio visual presentations from Wesley Gibbings, Chairman of the Association of Caribbean Media Workers (ACM); Sam Mikenga, Theresa Daniel, a media consultant in St. Vincent and the Grenadines; Wendy Diaz and Efasina Efunyemi; journalists Peter Richards and Julius Gittens; and Dr. Maria Protz.

Dr. Arlington Chesney, CARDI Director, also made a presentation on Caribbean media coverage of food and agriculture.

During the exercise, ECTAD/CaFAN Communications Consultant, Jeffrey Trotman, referred to the longstanding and cordial relationship that exists between ECTAD/CaFAN and the CTA in which CTA has funded several capacity building training programmes as well as provided funding for the publication of the ECTAD Greenlight and CaFAN AGRIVYBZ newsletters.

Participants of the Media Experts Seminar

The new approach by the CTA to engage the ACM came out of the CTA’s annual seminar in Brussels, Belgium on 12-16 October, 2009 in which the media was highlighted as a strategic link in the chain of information dissemination and communication that brings stakeholders together as the media address the major agricultural and rural development (ARD) challenges of the 21

st century including food security and climate change.

The Brussels gathering acknowledged that adequate flow of information in ACP countries is inadequate and media treatment of crucial issues such as food security, post-harvest technology and water management often tend to be insufficient.

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Praedial Larceny:

The Fight Goes On

On September 21 and 22, 2010, the Technical Management Advisory Committee (TMAC) of the ‘Deficient and Uncoordinated Disaster Risk Management, including Praedial Larceny’ in the Agriculture Sector for the Jagdeo Initiative collaborated with the CARICOM Secretariat, FAO and CDEMA, and held a regional stakeholders consultation to consider draft recommendations and plan of action to reduce praedial larceny in member states of CARICOM. The consultation was represented by Minister Hilson Baptiste, Chair of the TMAC/ASSC and lead Minister on the Jagdeo Initiative Constraint on Deficient and Uncoordinated Disaster Risk Management Measures including Praedial Larceny. Speaking on the issue of praedial larceny, Mr. Jethro Greene who represented CaFAN highlighted that praedial larceny has been identified by CARICOM to be one of the greatest threats to a thriving agriculture sector. He noted that crop theft has always existed in one form or another, with people stealing for the purpose of selling to traffickers. This is literally taking the money out of the pockets of farmers, who have a difficult enough time breaking even. Greene noted that past strategies have dealt with the symptoms of praedial larceny and not the root causes. A strategy needs to be developed that both treats praedial larceny as a serious crime, but also addresses the factors which lead people into committing these crimes, since a prosperous and profitable agriculture sector needs to be secure. One such strategy that CaFAN seeks to promote is the idea of clustering. These are informal “organizations” which are established in communities in order to give small farmers a greater voice and improve their economies of scale. Clustering helps to bring communities closer together and builds strong bonds between farmers who will then look out for each other. There are also practical realities that exist within the Caribbean countries where farmers reside nearly one to two hours away from their fields. We need to explore ways in which these farmers can become more attached to their lands, allowing them to maintain their own surveillance and can maintain surveillance on neighbours’ farms. To adequately address praedial

larceny there needs to be large structural changes. It is no small task to push for land reform, but it is necessary. Following the two day consultation a document “Analysis of the State of Praedial Larceny in Member States of CARICOM” was circulated which provided a background into praedial larceny within CARICOM countries and listed several recommendations that can be adapted in the fight and reduction of praedial larceny at the national and regional levels.

KEY RECOMMENDATIONS

- In some countries, for example Suriname, praedial larceny is strongly linked to food insecurity. Therefore, specific focus should be made in strengthening food security

- Create Sensitization, Public Awareness and Information sharing programmes for praedial larceny prevention

- Strengthen the national policy framework and the institutions that support praedial larceny prevention and risk reduction

- St Vincent and the Grenadines, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago are the three countries that have placed praedial larceny prevention in the National Agriculture Strategy. It’s recommended that these three countries elaborate the strategies using a Results- Based Plan of Action. The Plan of Action should adopt an implementation strategy that integrates the praedial larceny prevention measures into the reporting and monitoring processes of the National Agriculture Strategy.

- The National Praedial Larceny Strategies be given recognition in the CARICOM Regional Agriculture Policy now being developed under the IICA/CTA/CARICOM initiative

- To establish and strengthen planning and monitoring systems at the national and regional levels

- Strengthen community watch groups

- Conduct an investigation into how praedial larceny is integrated into the legitimate food distribution chain

- Build farmer capacity for praedial larceny prevention

- Establish special units in the police force to

tackle praedial larceny

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Transformation of Agri-Business in the Caribbean Article by Renortha Penny Subsistence farmers usually receive strong criticism for not planning or producing enough to supply the local market, yet alone the external market. There are many farmers within the region who do not own their lands legally because it has been passed down from generation to generation with no legal documentation.

Ironically, some governments refuse to recognise the relentless sacrifice and the need for ownership of lands by farmers, which will allow for easy access to credit and other amenities to improve their livelihood for the development and expansion of their farm.

On the other hand, it is amazing how multinational agricultural companies have easy access to what subsistence farmers are presently fighting for in the Caribbean (insurance, credit, technology, etc.). They invade third world countries, producing large quantities with cheap labour, whose focus is not for internal development but for the foreign market. Yet, these companies are continuously embraced by governments and authorities promising to provide more employment for the locals to improve living standards but they are often left with the dismay of deserted-degraded lands, chaos, mass migration of farmers to the cities, famine, drought, and waves of violence just to name a few form of their exploitation.

In the Caribbean, we ought not to allow our fragile agriculture industry to be managed under the capitalist system as that of the multinational agricultural companies. The wealth of “Agriculture Technology” must not displace farmers and workers and more over, should not unbalance our ecosystems (natural resources are very limited especially in the Caribbean). We have seen time and again that traditional crops and native species surpass genetically modified ones that are usually recommended to us from foreign experts. From basic observations, these species often require high volumes of water (irrigation systems), pesticides (not resistant to most tropical pest) and new stock every season; they are basically a catalyst to making the industry stagnant to growth and development from the dependencies on foreign technologies. Therefore, we must open our eyes and see that our development does not have to be foreign but from within. Latin American, Asian and African countries have all felt the effects of genetically modified crops and of those empty promises from multinational companies. In the Caribbean, we must hold strong with the limited resources we have and first feed within our borders with surplus turn over to the regional and extra regional markets. The transformation of Agribusiness in the Caribbean will only succeed as we learn from our past and make changes in the present to encourage a more sustainable and profitable future.

Youth Volunteer invited to CTA Seminar

in South Africa Ms. Renortha Penny of Grenada has been selected by CaFAN to participate in CTA’s Annual Seminar on “Closing the Knowledge Gap: Integrated Water Management for Sustainable Agriculture” to take place in Johannesburg, South Africa from November 22-26th, 2010. Two of the four objectives of the seminar are to:

- Share experiences and information on best practices in integrated water management (IWM) in the various agro-ecological zones of ACP countries

- Identify information & communication needs and requirements and propose guidelines for the implementation of water management activities and programmes

The seminar will bring together over 150 experts involved in integrated water resource management and related fields. Ms. Penny also represents CaFAN who sits as a regional member on CTA’s Youth, Agriculture Rural Development and ICT (ARDYIS Project) along with Ms. Keeley Holder of Barbados. Both Ms. Holder and Ms. Penny are technical volunteers and consultants with CaFAN.

Renortha D. Penny is one of the newest members to join CaFAN‘s team of technical volunteer. She is a dynamic and motivated young entrepreneur who has 5 years in the area of Green Business Development strategies and creates a close relationship between research and sustainable development issues.

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Voice of Jethro Greene, Chief Coordinator

of CaFAN

CAFAN contributes to

Regional Food & Nutrition

Security Policy

CaFAN is bent on making an indelible impact on the proposed CARICOM/FAO Regional Food and Nutrition Security policy (RFNS). According to Jethro Greene, CaFAN Coordinator, the proposed RFNS is part of a larger agriculture sector policy that CARICOM is designing with technical assistance from the FAO. He said that CaFAN is bent on ensuring that the policy

reflects the true reality of the Caribbean, especially since the majority of people in the food production system are small farmers. Emphasis on local food Stressing that regional food security should be centred around Caribbean produce – not imported food – Greene said it is scientifically proven that a lot of locally produced food that go to waste in the Caribbean are much healthier than a lot of the imported food. ”If we are to fight the non communicable diseases,” he elaborated, “we have to get our people to eat more of our healthy food rather than a lot of the imported processed junk food that they are using”.

Land policy The CaFAN leader is also contending that a regional food policy must also include a clear land policy in which emphasis is placed on the preservation of agricultural land across the region. “We can’t have food security when government is taking all the lands and put to tourism … without any regard for food security. So we have to have good land policy designed to protect agriculture.”

Stigma Apart from meaningful land policies, Greene feels that Caribbean governments need to have meaningful youth policies with respect to agriculture. “We also have to look at the negative stigma attached to agriculture. If

government is serious, efforts would be made from school level to foster appreciation for agriculture.

“We also want to ensure that we do not look at the farmer in an impersonal manner as though he or she is a machine – a producer of food. Farmers must be looked at in a holistic way. The farmer is an integral part of the society. The farmer is a person with needs and has a family. Government has to be serious in putting things like infrastructure in agricultural communities and rural areas.”

Storage Pointing to the need for increased storage facilities, Greene said there are times of major gluts and scarcity and this must be addressed by the governments within the region.

Transportation CaFAN believes that intraregional transportation of produce is not a major problem once the agricultural sector is vibrant. According to Greene, the private sector is ready and willing to provide transportation once supplies are guaranteed.

Greene said. “We need to deal with the fundamentals of supply, marketing and supply chain systems that would ensure that certain levels of supplies are

coming out of countries to be distributed around the region and transportation will fall in line. I’m very confident about that. I’m more worried about production planning than transportation.” CaFAN Disclosing that CaFAN has over 500,000 farmers throughout the region with members in 13 Caribbean countries, Greene said:”The Caribbean is seen as one country. In order for us to get economies of scale we need to work together. The idea of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Jamaica, or even Guyana to work on their own is ridiculous when you think of what is going on in international trade; people are moving in blocks. “So, we as a united farmers’ organization is way ahead of the politicians – we are sensible, we’re intelligent, we have vision. We recognized that the world was moving in blocks six years ago, so we put ourselves in a block. Now, we are in a position in which we can offer – and the private sector is coming to us to supply them with commodities because we have membership in all CARICOM countries.

Continues on page 14...

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Ms. Guigou and Mr. Gooding examine plants during farm visits; NEFO farmer presented with certificate of participation

Ms. Guigou and Mr. James

Clarke (farmer) converse about

sweet potato production

during visit to ECTAD, St.

Vincent and the Grenadines.

Photo taken on CARDI‘s

experimental sweet potato

plot

EU officials

evaluate AAACP

Caribbean project Two officials from the Coordinating Unit of the EU AAACP have expressed satisfaction with progress made on attempts to bolster root crop production amongst CaFAN members participating in the EU ACP AAACP Roots and Tubers program.

Ms. Laurence Guigou, Administrative and Financial Expert and Ms. Mariane Tambwe, Communications Expert, visited the Caribbean during the Caribbean Week of Agriculture and visited three of CaFAN members involved in the EU AAACP in Grenada, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Jamaica. The purpose of their visit was to monitor the effectiveness of the EU AACP assistance to improve capacity amongst Caribbean farmers to function viably and sustainably.

GRENADA The North East Farmers Organisation (NEFO) of Grenada was the first to be visited, and this took place on Wednesday October 20

th. Accompanied by two of CaFAN

Secretariat Volunteers; Dave Rideout and Sadaf Kashfi, the team journeyed to several NEFO farms led by its president Mr. Evans Gooding. Farmers of NEFO were questioned by the two EU officials and they shared their experiences and lessons learnt especially in the areas of record keeping and new farming techniques. Following the field visits, NEFO held a small ceremony with its members and the EU officials. This event provided an opportunity for Guigou and Tambwe to speak to a larger audience of NEFO farmers who are involved in the project. The visit concluded with distributions of certificates for participation in the NEFO CaFAN FAO EU AAACP project.

ST. VINCENT AND THE GRENADINES On Monday October 25

th, Guigou and Tambwe journeyed to St. Vincent

and the Grenadines and looked at progress being made on an FAO funded sweet potato pilot project in the North Leeward area of the island. They also visited the CARDI sweet potato experimental plot and several fields of dasheen. Pointing to some degree of differences in competence amongst the Vincentian farmers that are affiliated to ECTAD and their counterparts from NEFO, Tambwe said that ECTAD’s farmers membership is much larger compared to NEFO and that she and her colleague could discern that cultivation techniques are more developed in St. Vincent than at NEFO. Enthused by what she saw, Guigou said ECTAD is receiving grant assistance from other agencies to continue capacity building amongst its affiliate farmers.

The two EU Officials departed from St. Vincent on Tuesday 26

th to Jamaica

to learn of the experiences of the Christiana Potato Growers Cooperative Association (CPGCA). They were also expected to meet a number of other Jamaican stakeholders, local and international officials, including World Bank personnel before returning to Brussels.

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Priceless Expressions Some members of NEFO receiving their certificates from Mr. Reginal Andall, CARDI Representative in

Grenada and main trainer under the NEFO CaFAN FAO EU AAACP Roots & Tubers Project

JAMAICA

On October 28, 2010, the Christiana Potato Growers Co-operative Association Ltd showed its appreciation to FAO and all the Group Secretaries that participated in the “Training the Trainers” Seminars by hosting a Farmers Day & FAO Evaluation Exercise. Special guests from the EU Coordinating Units; Guigou and Tambwe, were present, along with presenters and RADA officials who participated in the training exercises. Some of the farmers from various communities whose group secretaries participated in the training exercise were present in support of the secretaries. There were approximately 55 persons in attendance including 7 persons who were visiting Jamaica which gave the exercise an international flavor. The representatives from the EU, accompanied by Mr. Alvin Murray, General Manager and Mr. Ivan Green, Chairman CPGCA, toured the Devon Resource Center where they saw the activities associated with green house vegetable production. The representatives from the EU later participated in the Farmers’ Meeting held at CPGCA Head office. There, the trainees deliberated on the value of the FAO sponsored seminars on their personal lives and their community improvement. The EU representative assisted in handing out Training Manuals, containing the course work to the Group Secretaries who were present.

The EU representative, presenters, CPGCA and RADA personnel addressed the gathering about their organizations’ efforts to improve the wellbeing of the farmers and their communities. Further comments were made by farmers in the audience. The CPGCA chairman gave the closing remarks and brought the meeting to a close.

According to Guigou and Tambwe, the overall visit is part of a periodic monitoring programme to determine whether EU grants and funding from other donor agencies are achieving the objective of raising capacity amongst small farmers to improve their production and productivity and consequently their quality of life in ACP countries. The EU Officials explained that a number of international organizations operate as implementing agencies for the All ACP Agricultural Commodities Programme. “In this case,” Tambwe said, “FAO training is being provided to different farmer organizations in St. Vincent, in Jamaica, in Guyana, in Grenada to improve their production cultivation techniques, to improve the use of fertilizers and their ability in leadership and also improve the management of their own farms.”

Standing: Alvin Murray, Laurence Guigou & Ivan Green Sitting: Female trainers are Olive Johnson & Cheryl Sawyers

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CTA continues to

support CaFAN

through 2010

contract CaFAN has signed a new partnership contract with the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA). The overall objective of the contract is to contribute to enhanced competitiveness of Caribbean farmers and improved quality of life of farmers’ families. The main activities to be imple-mented include: - Conducting a survey on CaFAN

membership needs;

- Production of two fact sheets on farm management and pro-duction planning;

- Production of two issues of Agrivybz newsletters;

- Conduction a regional workshop on Crop Production Planning and Management targeting specific markets

At the end of the project, CaFAN seeks to: - Strengthen its membership base

and provide up-to-date and relevant information to members

- Strengthen members’ capacities to take advantage of marketing opportunities nationally, region-ally and internationally

- Reinforce interactions among

and between CaFAN members, and other stakeholders

The 2010 contract was signed in October 2010 and will be implemented over a ten month period ending August 2011. CTA has been a major partner of CaFAN since CaFAN’s inception in 2002.

CaFAN signs LoA The EU AAACP roots and tubers project is being coordinated by CaFAN who was first engaged by FAO in 2008 as the leading regional farmers’ organisation to work with, in the implementation of activities funded by the EU AAACP. To date, several country visits have been made to Grenada, Jamaica and Guyana in an effort to provide support services to activities of national projects supported by the AAACP. In an effort to enable CaFAN to continue to provide support services to national activities of members, to further facilitate networking and information exchange on lessons learnt, to implement parts of its communication strategy, prepare written promotional materials, and to monitor and assist in the finalization of reports, CaFAN has signed its fourth LoA with FAO, PR 45515. The LoA has also provided further assistance to visit three of the four national projects and to provide training on appropriate topics. It also provided an opportunity for training of the CaFAN’s Secretariat staff in business development services. The CaFAN Secretariat expresses its appreciation to FAO; especially Mr. Heiko Bammann, Enterprise Development Officer of FAO AGS division for the support offered to CaFAN and its members which will help to advance its marketing programme and service provision to its members.

Kuru Kururu Farmers benefit

from training Under the EU AAACP project, the Guyana Agricultural Producers Association (GAPA) has signed its first letter of agreement (LoA) with FAO and will be conducted with the Kuru Kururu Farmers Crop and Livestock Association (KKFCLA), a member of GAPA. The project is set to be implemented over a six month period ending December 2010. Members of KKFCLA received their first training on Effective Management of Farmers Organisation which was conducted by Jethro Greene, CaFAN Chief Coordinator. The training was conducted on the 7-8

th September, 2010 and

had a total of over thirty participants. In a letter dated September 28

th, 2010, the Chairman of the KKFCLA,

Yonnette Kennedy expressed her gratitude on behalf of KKFCLA for the opportunity to be a part of the EU AAACP Roots and Tubers project. She noted that KKKFCLA was quite impressed and rewarded with the knowledge and guidelines on the training conducted that is very conducive to their organisation. It is her hope that there will be continuance of training activities where KKFCLA farmers will be given the necessary opportunities and linkages that would advance them towards the development and improvement of their agricultural activities. Kennedy expressed the association’s interest to be a part of the CaFAN network and to develop linkages with all the other farmers and organisations in the network.

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CaFAN

contributes to

CTA’s 5 year

Strategic Plan Jethro Greene, Chief Coordinator was the lone representative from the Caribbean region to attend CTA Strategic Planning Workshop from October 5-7, 2010 in Wageningen, the Netherlands.

There were over fifty international experts including CTA staff in attendance. Their role was to assist in defining possible strategic thrusts and priorities for the Centre in the coming five years.

CTA convenes every five years to review the external environment, examine its roles and devise a new strategy to guide its future work. The strategy serves to priorities the CTA programmes, projects and activities for the following five years.

In an exclusive interview with Mr. Greene regarding his participation, Greene said that CTA has a major strength that most of the other agencies do not have, “a unique partnership approach”, which places emphasis on sharing and dialogue, rather than talking down. This partnership approach is a pillar which allows CTA to work through partners like CaFAN and also through strategic partnerships like FAO – it can maximize its resources.

He also said that CTA’s staff comprises both ACP and European which creates a balance in the Institution.

Greene’s contributions were made from CTA national and regional partnership programmes through which CaFAN and its Secretariat have been able to benefit.

ECTAD signs LoA

ECTAD has once again received support from FAO for a number of development activities in St. Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG). The support which falls under EU AAACP is aimed at strengthening ECTAD’s farmer base within rural communities for the production and marketing of root crops. As part of the programme, ECTAD has targeted a minimum of 600 farmers for (re)registering in SVG and has set up six field officers to work directly with these farmers and the area extension officers in the Ministry of Agriculture. It will also hold a National Stakeholders Planning Meeting scheduled for November 23-25, to appraise the farmers on all aspects of the project and what would be required of them. ECTAD will also use the opportunity to hold one day village meetings with farmers which it is hoped will result in the strengthening of a group or cluster. These meetings will be held in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture and other stakeholders such as CARDI and the Taiwanese Technical Mission.

CAFAN contributes to CARCIOM

Agricultural Policy (CCAP)

On November 11-12, 2010, Jethro Greene represented CaFAN at a CARICOM Agricultural Policy (CCAP) validation workshop in Guyana, prior to which he distributed CaFAN’s position on agricultural policy to be incorporated into the CCAP. CaFAN believes that CCAP must support measures that will enhance farming as a business within the region in areas which include:

1. Improving agriculture productivity 2. Improving marketing and trade, starting within our own CARICOM

borders 3. Facilitate support for farmers to better deal with environmental

standards, health and safety issues regarding the food trade 4. Facilitate focus on young farmers and promote agriculture right

through the school system from kindergarten to secondary 5. Support value addition with key focus on the use of local products

produced within the Caribbean region and support more research and development in value addition

6. Improving access to finance and financial investment for farmers 7. Improving access to land and security of land titles for farmers 8. Improving marketing infrastructure especially storage, packaging and

safety issues 9. Support skills development in the agriculture field 10. Facilitate risk mitigation training and technical support for farmers. 11. Facilitate agriculture crop and livestock insurance 12. Facilitate the strengthening and build capacity building of farmers

organisation and clusters as a core strategy 13. Empowerment of farmers and farmers organisations 14. Support focused research and development aimed at solving

problems affecting farmers 15. Support skills development in the agriculture field

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ECTAD identifies key crops for CaFAN regional

import substitution programme Seven key crops; dasheen, sweet potato, yams, eddoes, plantain, ginger and pineapples were selected by farmers and agriculture stakeholders for production linked to CaFAN marketing programme. These crops were identified at a Crop Production and Marketing Coordinating workshop organized by the Eastern Caribbean Trading Agriculture and Development Organisation (ECTAD) which took on Wednesday 25th August, 2010. The main objective of the one day meeting was to develop a production and marketing strategy linked to CaFAN’s Regional Import Substitution Programme and joint overseas marketing. The meeting was held in collaboration between ECTAD, Ministry of Agriculture and the Caribbean Agricultural Research and Development Institute (CARDI). It brought together a broad community of agricultural stakeholders from farmers, agricultural institutions, govern-ment, and the private sector. There were over 30 participants including representatives of the Guyana Agriculture Production Association and the North East Farmers Organisation from Grenada.

The one day workshop which was led by Mr. Jethro Greene, Chief Coordinator (ECTAD) examined crop production and marketing from the local, regional and international standpoints. There were presentations made by Dr Gregory Robin, (CARDI Representative), Mr. Seithroy Edwards and Mr. Renarto Gumbs, Agriculture Officers (Ministry of Agriculture) and farmers’ leaders who gave an update on the current state of production in several areas of St. Vincent and the Grenadines. The one day workshop also featured a brief outline by Jennifer Blackman of a CARICOM Study Project to access famers’ knowledge of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME). Magdaline Niles of Grenada and Steve Mangal of GAPA also gave a brief descriptions of their organisations, while Ms. Nyasha Durrant, ECTAD’s Project administrator gave an outline of the current FAO EU AAACP support to CaFAN. Significant opportunities for farmers and agriculture stakeholders to comment on trends in the agriculture sector were an important element of the workshop. There was a Question and Answer section that was intended to promote dialogue amongst interested parties and to foster learning among a diverse group of stakeholders, regarding competition and other issues in the agricultural market landscape. At the end of the meeting, Mr. Greene noted that ECTAD, St. Vincent was just one of thirteen countries that will contribute crops for CaFAN marketing programme. The other countries were recommended to meet and identify crops that they had a strategic advantage of growing.

Group photo of participants

NEFO visits ECTAD Farmers Delegates of NEFO, Grenada visited St. Vincent through a study tour program hosted by ECTAD from August 24th –27th 2010. The Study tour was one of NEFO’s activities funded under a letter of Agreement by FAO through the EU AAACP. The goal of the tour was to identify key production and propagation techniques practiced in St. Vincent that will enhance NEFO’s present and future crop production for greater economic, financial and workforce building opportunities. NEFO farmers were taken on several farm visits in which they looked at the production practices of dasheen, yams, eddoes and sweet potatoes on both the Leeward and Windward locations. They also visited CARDI’s experimental stations, the Ministry of Agriculture propagation station and the Taiwan experimental plot.

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CaFAN strengthens relationship

with COADY International Institute

An official from the COADY International Institute, St. Francis Xavier University, Antigonish, Nova Scotia, Canada, is satisfied with the Youth in Partnership (YIP) programme between the institution and ECTAD/CaFAN. Natalie Abdou, Youth Programme Officer, COADY International Institute, visited St. Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) from Monday 31 May to Saturday 5 June 2010 during which time she assessed the internship of three COADY cohorts, who arrived in SVG in March 2010. Abdou explained that COADY functions in seven month “cohorts” in which the participants undergo two weeks training before going off for a six month stint in a foreign country followed by a two week de-briefing upon their return to Canada. The YIP is presently being funded by the Canadian International Development Agency. Abdou said, among other things, her visits will help COADY to better recruit associates as well as better provide new cohorts with information on their placement so that they are better able to contribute positively to the respective organizations to which they are attached. She also said that she appreciates the opportunity to chat one on one with the leadership of the partner organisation, since, according to her, it really strengthens the partnership in a remarkable way. Impressed by what she saw in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, particularly the manner of rudimentary agriculture on steep slopes, the COADY official said: “These are really small business and it provides an opportunity for young Canadians to engage in community development – and through ECTAD and CaFAN – by getting information and trying to assist in determining policies in communication and marketing. “It seems to be a unique opportunity for young Canadians to be part of that process … to really engage and put their influence to various pieces of work … in that their strengths are being utilized and in addition to that, they are being challenged in new ways … and to learn more of people such as trying to find the relationship around trying to coordinate the efforts of local farmers.” Richard Kirkham and Marcia McCune were the COADY “associates” at ECTAD/CaFAN during Abdou’s visit. Their six month stint ended in mid September 2010 during which time, ECTAD/CaFAN welcomed two new interns, David Rideout and Sadaf Kashfi. Dave Rideout graduated with a double major in International Development Studies and Political Science from Saint Mary's University in Halifax, Canada. He went on to obtain an Advanced Diploma in Public Relations and haS since worked in the non-profit and corporate communications sectors in Canada. As a COADY Institute YIP intern, he will be able to combine his training in PR with his background in development. Dave hopes that through this experience, he will be able to contribute to positive and lasting change for agriculture in the Caribbean.

Sadaf Kashfi received her Bachelor of Commerce from McGill University, Canada in 2009. She has worked with Agriculture Canada informing farmers about government programs and services relevant to their farms, as well as assessing their needs situation. Sadaf welcomed the opportunity to work with ECTAD and hopes to engage in mutual learning with the farming community in SVG and gain a better understanding of international develop-ment work.

The first batch of interns was Laird Herbert and Paula Hearn, who served at ECTAD/CaFAN during July 2008 to January 2009. CaFAN is grateful for the opportunity to work with COADY and looks forward for a stronger and lasting relationship.

Sadaf Kashfi

David Rideout

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...continued from page 7 It’s on the basis of that we were able to interact with CARICOM – a regional organization – and, of course, if there is a regional organization like us that is active on the ground producing, they would hear about us and engage us.”

He explained that the Caribbean Farmers Network (CaFAN) is a network of small farmers. “We form them in groups or clusters. No matter how small they are, we bring them together to get economies of scale. We get production. We get training. We get technical assistance. It is primarily a small farmers’ organization. The coordinating office is in St. Vincent with focal points in all the member countries of the network. Every member in a country whether it is the Jamaica Agriculture Society, the Christiana Potato Growers Association represents CaFAN in their country”

Expectations “A policy is an over arching framework” Greene explained. “A regional policy for agriculture and food security is necessary so that we have something that we could fall back on. It is a guide and once it is fashioned in a right way it could force governments in the region to change their behavior and conform because they will be held accountable.”

He said as farmers’ organizations become more active they can play a stronger role in their country and ensure that government does not dole out the country to foreigners. “You protect your farmers.”

He said that if the policy is followed, a number of things would fall in place that would benefit farmers. “For example, we have had a lot of ‘so called’ money come into the region for agriculture and governments have attempted to create organizations. I don’t believe in that.

“I believe that government must create the policy framework and an enabling environment for farmers’ organizations to have farmers working together in clusters, etc. They must not be controlled by government. They must be facilitated by government because the farming sector has been too politicized over the last decade or so and, generally, in a lot of countries, politicians are afraid of farmers being independent. So, they keep them dependent.”

Prosperity “CaFAN’s role is to ensure that farmers act like the private sector. Governments need to create the enabling environment. Let the EU assistance come directly to the farmers’ groups. Let the private sector investment come directly to the farmers’ groups. Governments must simply collect taxes and create

the enabling environment and get out of direct lead involvement in some of these activities and we will see prosperity.”

Novel Greene is also the Chairman of the Agriculture and Nutrition Committee of the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Chamber of Industry and Commerce. Noting that it is a novel committee in the organization, Greene said the committee has been working well.

“We are now doing a cook book based on our local food chain. We are also promoting a fruit of the month and a fruit of the quarter based on our local fruits. We are also promoting the nutritional value of the fruits. Among other things, we have started a very active programme to promote school gardens, starting with the Intermediate High School, which is very good since we are focusing the school garden as a business – not just as farming. We are trying to promote farming as a business.”

He said he joined the Chamber to influence the organization to become more involved in agriculture and he is happy to state that more business men are taking a more active interest in agriculture and purchasing more local food. “So, the Chamber is moving in the right direction.”

CARICOM consultations attended by CaFAN On September 16 and 17, Jethro Greene represented CaFAN at the CARICOM Office of Trade Negotiations (OTN) consultation meeting in Barbados. The purpose of the consultation was to reach agreement on a standing arrangement for future consultations between the OTN and select Regional Non-State Actors (NSA) organizations. Following the meeting, a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) has been drafted between CaFAN and CARICOM On October 28, 2010, CARICOM Secretariat held a one day meeting to review the draft report of the CSME Rural Community Readiness Study which was conducted in Belize, Dominica, Guyana, Jamaica, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago and to agree on a strategy. The meeting took place in Guyana and was represented by Jethro Greene. On November 9 and 10, Mrs. Dhano Sookoo, CaFAN Director and President of the Agricultural Society of Trinidad and Tobago (ASTT) represented CaFAN at a CARICOM Stakeholders workshop on “Developing an Action Plan for Promotion of a Regional Agribusiness Sector and Targeted Commodity Enterprises” in Guyana.

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…continued from page 3 FAO will also be supporting an issue of AGRIVYBZ and is supporting the CaFAN Secretariat to host regional workshops and provide technical supervision for the projects on the ground. Recently, a two member team from the coordinating unit of the European Union All ACP Agricultural Commodities Programme (EU AAACP) visited the region aimed at evaluating the impact of the projects. From first impression, they seemed satisfied with the progress of the project in all four locations.

x x x x x

2010 Caribbean Week of Agriculture The performance of the various CaFAN representatives caused the organization to shine at the various workshops held at the CWA. CaFAN was featured on six television and radio interview programmes during the week of activities, much more than any other organization that attended the event.

And with its local Caribbean food night, CaFAN became the most visible and recognizable organization at the Caribbean Week of Activities. As a result of this, a number of organizations including CARICOM and our traditional partners are reaching out to us in more intensive fashion with offer of technical and financial assistance.

The team approach of CaFAN and the consistency of its message and vision with heavy emphasis on leadership succession by encouraging young people to participate in the leadership is putting CaFAN in extremely high profile – way above the rest.

There must be no compromise in continuing the process of team leadership and sticking to our vision of ensuring that our farmers own more of the value chain if not the total value chain to the extent that he/she can have a viably profitable business that he/she can pass on to generations.

Congratulation to the CaFAN leaders at the Caribbean Week of Activities!

x x x x x

CaFAN Constitution and Strategic Plan CaFAN is in the final stage of its Constitution and has been circulated to members for final comment. CaFAN new strategic plan is also under review and a draft outline would also be circulated within the next month.

x x x x x

CaFAN membership fees CaFAN would begin membership fee collection in December to be continued in January to ensure that all members are in good current financial standing.

Others

• The recent training course on Agribusiness Management for Farmers Organization held in July, 2010 in St. Lucia was very successful and the report has been circulated to all members.

• All CaFAN members and affiliates are asked to submit articles on their organization to the Secretariat for publication in AGRIVYBZ.

• Any CaFAN member, representing his/her organization at any official workshop is asked to submit a report of the event to the CaFAN Secretariat, which will in turn, be circulated to all members

• CaFAN members are also requested to keep the Secretariat informed on activities in country and any major report on agriculture in country so that the Secretariat could circulate to the general membership of the network.

The CaFAN Directorate and Secretariat would like to encourage the membership to be vigilant and take charge of your/our own agriculture destiny.

CaFAN Upcoming Events

Crop Production Planning Regional Workshop February 14-18 or 21-25, 2011

Three day Grenada consultation meeting and

country visit – January 2011

Three day Jamaica consultation meeting and country visit – February 2011

Barbados Agro-fest 2011 – February 25-28, 2011

ABOUT CaFAN

The Caribbean Farmers Network (CaFAN) is a regional umbrella of farmers’ organisations in thirteen Caribbean countries. Its mission is to enhance Caribbean food and nutrition security, foreign exchange earnings and foreign savings by repositioning agriculture through the capacity building of farmers and the institutional strengthening of farmers’ organisations. Please send your comments or suggestions to

[email protected] or [email protected]

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This document has been produced with the financial assistance of the Technical Centre for Agricultural and

Rural cooperation (CTA). However, the views expressed herein can in no way be taken to reflect the official

opinion of CTA.

The CaFAN Secretariat recruits new volunteers

Mr. Elroy Wilson is a final year student at the University of the West Indies (UWI) pursuing his Bachelor of Science degree in Agribusiness Management and Entrepreneurship at the St. Augustine Campus, Trinidad & Tobago. Elroy has worked in agriculture as a Banana Extension Officer at the St. Vincent Banana Growers Association. On November 3

rd 2011, he received the

‘Agribusiness Community Service’ award for most outstanding performance in the internship programme which he completed at the Ministry of Agriculture Forestry and Fisheries, St. Vincent. Elroy fully commits himself to the field of agricultural and rural development and supports CaFAN’s mandate to improve the livelihood of small farmers across the region.

Mr. Conroy Huggins is an Agronomist/Agricultural Engineer within the Ministry of Education, St. Vincent and the Grenadines where he has been teaching agriculture science at the Bishop’s College Kingstown (BCK) for two years. He is a former senior extension officer at the St. Vincent Banana Growers Association. He also served as president of the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Agriculture Forum for Youth (SVGAFY). He is presently the coordinator of the BCK Agriculture Science club. Conroy desires to inspire and mobilize youth involvement in agriculture in St. Vincent and the Grenadines and the wider Caribbean and he is pleased to be a part of the CaFAN team.

CONTACT US

Caribbean Farmers Network (CaFAN)

C/o Eastern Caribbean Trading Agriculture Development Organization (ECTAD)

Beachmont

P.O. Box 827, Kingstown, St. Vincent and the Grenadines

[email protected] / [email protected] www.caribbeanfarmers.org

Tel: (784) 453-1004 Fax: (784) 453-1239

CaFAN Newsletter 10 Agrivybz

Documents

Transcript of CaFAN Newsletter 10 Agrivybz