(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana)  His Excellency Ambassador Irwin LaRocque, Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Assistant Secretary-General, Trade and Economic Integration, said Wednesday that there was a greater need for the Caribbean region to produce an increasing share of the food it consumed.

Delivering remarks at the opening of the Second Meeting of the Caribbean Plant Health Directors at the CARICOM Secretariat in Georgetown, Guyana, the Assistant Secretary-General alluded to the “unfurling globally worrisome events” and said the Region must address its national and Regional food security goals.

“What we can say with certainty is that there is greater need for us to produce an increasing share of the food we consume and we must ensure that our people have access to that food we produce,” he said.

Among the challenge to food production and plant health, he pointed out, were the new and economically or environmentally damaging plant pests, diseases and invasive species. Cooperation among Member States and funding agencies in the field of research on the levels of risks plant pests pose and their detection and identification in order to prevent, contain or minimize their impact, was important, he said.

Among the meeting’s challenges Mr. LaRocque said, would be to continue to assess the international, regional and national environment; strategize on how to minimize the threats posed by thousands of plant pests and diseases which impact on food security; make recommendations for adoption of regional and national policies in coordinating common approaches to manage the existing and emerging threats in the context of intra and extra regional trade; and improve on the approaches to ensuring the sustainability of this forum.

The packed agenda of the two-day meeting includes the presentation of summary reports of the Technical Working Groups on Giant African Snail, Red Palm Mite, Tephritid Fruit Flies, Palm Pest Complex, deliberations on initiatives of regional institutions for this year, and discussions on strengthening human resource capacity.