Americas: “Forum for Leaders in Agriculture”

Tholen – The Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) expects to create an exchange of information and opinion with senior officials on the challenges of Americas agricultural sector. Mr. Chelston Brathwaite, General Director of IICA, featured the idea of a Forum to perform a debate on the current situation of the agricultural sector in the Americas. He stated, as objective of the Forum, “to work with the new leaders of agriculture and rural life in the Americas, and even with the leaders of the future. Together, we can focus on identifying the challenges, devising new solutions for the countries’ agricultural sectors and contributing to the development of a national agenda based on the Government’s priorities”

Between the 2nd and 3rd of February, Mr. Ezechiel Joseph, the new Minister of Agriculture of Saint Lucia will be the first leader to participate on the Forum. The Saint Lucia Prime Minister Sir John Compton appointed Mr. Joseph last December 2006, expecting a total change in Saint Lucian agricultural policy, currently focused on production. Sir Compton stressed the importance for Saint Lucia to deal also with marketing, packaging and other stages, and the need to meet the standards required by supermarkets, hotels and foreign markets. Saint Lucia GDP is highly dependent on the agricultural sector (12%) and employs a quarter of the total labor force.

Publication date: January 30 2007
Author: Jahir Lombana
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