PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad and Tobago, Guardian - Director General of the Inter-American Institute for Co-operation on Agriculture (IICA) Victor Villalobos is endorsing a decision by International Labour Organization (ILO) head Guy Ryder to pay greater attention to the “rural economy” in the context of labour standards and rights. In an interview with T&T Guardian, Villalobos described the strategy as “very important,” since it would “help keep the best people in agriculture” and assist in promoting development in rural communities.
Ryder announced on Tuesday new ILO initiatives, including the “priority area” of rural economies during the opening session of the eighth ILO Caribbean Meeting of Labour Ministers. “We are going to give renewed attention to promoting decent work in the rural economy,” he said. “I have to be honest, the ILO forgot about the rural economy sometime in the 1990s. “We must rediscover it as an axis of sustainable development.” Villalobos, meanwhile, said “most of our countries in the region have rural populations in high proportion.”