SENIOR officials of agriculture-related institutions in Guyana and Suriname have agreed to create an agricultural risk map and disaster risk management system aimed at reducing climate risks to their respective agricultural sectors.The officials made the pledge at the end of a three-day workshop on agriculture risk-mapping, facilitated by the United Nations Development Project (UNDP) and the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation in Agriculture (IICA).

The workshop, held in the Ministry of Agriculture Boardroom, concluded last Wednesday. During the interaction, there was a unanimous agreement that risk-mapping was the way forward to ensure sustainable agriculture and food security in the two countries, given the threats posed by natural disasters such as flooding and drought.

It was agreed that climatic change in the Caribbean presents significant challenges for disaster response and agriculture management. Officials noted that data is essential to determine the probability of such occurrences, as this information can be used to develop early warning systems to reduce vulnerability and increase resilience to hazards.

During the workshop, the specialists were trained to use specialised software to produce step-by-step workflows for creating geospatial risk maps that pertain to impacts and hazards that are encountered both by Guyana and Suriname.

The local Ministry of Agriculture has a very comprehensive plan for Agriculture Disaster Risk Management (ADRM), and the Surinamese have agreed to work with Guyana to learn how they can put together an ADRM.