A new brand of Agriculture

10.OCT.08

The Caribbean Week of Agriculture and the National Agricultural and Agro-based Industrial Exhibition (NAIE) could not have come to this country at a better time.

With the myriad of issues facing the agricultural sector, this week’s activities come as a much needed boost to waning interest in the sector.{{more}} The sector has faced assaults from a dwindling and ageing labour force, pests and diseases, natural disasters, praedial larceny, rising cost of inputs, among other factors. All of this has been made worse by trade liberalization, rising fuel costs, climate change, and now the financial meltdown.

Families who have for generations sent their children to school, built homes and comfortable lives from the earnings of agriculture are now letting their lands run fallow because of challenges which seem insurmountable and children who see no future for themselves in the sector.

The theme for the NAIE is “Innovative Agriculture and Agro-Industry – Fuel for Sustainable Development”, and according to a release from the Ministry of Agriculture is being held within the context of transforming the agricultural sector through value addition.

The Exhibition seeks, among other things, to show that today’s agriculture is very different to that practiced by grandfather. In fact, to use an expression repeated several times this week, we are ushering in “A new brand of agriculture”. We are into the age of hydrophonics, green house technology, tissue culture and vacuum packing, to name a few.

The Exhibition promotes advancements along the value chain in the realms of agro-processing, pharmaceuticals and, importantly, as a potential source of energy. It is also being used to strengthen the inter-sectoral linkages between Agriculture, Tourism, Culture and Informatics, and to promote existing opportunities for investments under the public/private sector initiatives of the government.

Mention was again made this week of the Agricultural Training Institute and the Land Bank which are deemed necessary to attract a younger, more technologically savvy group to the sector.

It is hoped that the Exhibition, coupled with the training and investment opportunities soon to come on stream, will make our young people take a second look at agriculture as a career which could offer them a life of financial independence, while at the same time allowing them to play a vital role in the development of the nation.