The Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED) has approved the Regional Agriculture Emergency Response Sub-Committee to provide prompt action to help the agriculture sector in Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Member States to rebound after natural disasters.
Approval came at the 71st Special Meeting of the COTED on Agriculture held at the CARICOM Secretariat on Friday 6 October, 2017.
With food security as its priority, the government of Antigua and Barbuda is pursuing a “different vision” as it moves to rebuild the agriculture sector of Barbuda which was destroyed following the passage of Hurricane Irma in September.
A series of devastating storms in the Caribbean has highlighted the vulnerability of small island states, where a single hurricane can undo years of development and plunge prosperous households into poverty from one day to the next.
Hurricane Irma turned 90 percent of homes on Barbuda to rubble and left financial losses of USD 100-200 million. Hurricane Maria has knocked out power to the entire US territory of Puerto Rico.
Bridgetown, Barbados – The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO), Sub-Regional Office for the Caribbean in Barbados, last month hosted parliamentarians from 13CARICOM Member States to address the issues of food insecurity, hunger and malnutrition in the region.
May 2, 2017 — In an effort to enhance the quality of agricultural produce in the Region, food safety stakeholders convened in Barbados from April 25-26, 2017 to discuss the improvement of plant health in the Region.
The two-day consultations, conducted by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Services Services (APHIS), and the Greater Caribbean Safeguarding Initiative (GCIS), discussed the implementation of programmes to safeguard the region from the introduction and spread of pests and invasive species.
The link below is to an article written by Ron Vail, the director of Food Safety and GFSI Education at AIB International and Sonal Sinha, Associate Vice President Industry Solutions at MetricStream. The document was designed to give guidance to companies looking to implement a streamlined process to gain and sustain certification, thereby continually improving food safety strategies and practices.
DECODING GFSI
BELIZE, MAY 24 - A historic Flying Fish Fisheries Policy has been endorsed by the Caribbean Regional Fisheries Mechanism’s (CRFM) Ministerial Council.
The Sub-Regional Fishery Management Plan for the Eastern Caribbean Flying Fish Fishery was approved at the council’s just concluded eighth meeting held at the Fort Young Hotel in Roseau, Dominica.
The CRFM’s Executive Director Milton Haughton says it is the first time the Caribbean has approved a joint management plan for the shared resource.
Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar arrived in Australia yesterday ahead of the 22nd sitting of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), which takes place from October 28 to 30 in Perth. The Prime Minister, who was accompanied by Foreign Minister Surujrattan Rambachan, left Trinidad last Wednesday. Commonwealth leaders will discuss, among others, issues related to food security, sustainable development and natural resource management—challenges that lie at the heart of national and global resilience for many member states.