By Clifford Stanley

THE local office of the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) has disclosed that technical officers representing CARIFORUM countries have endorsed harmonized legislation for Agricultural Health and Food Safety(AHFS) will allow for increased regional and international trade in agriculture and fisheries and reduce the Region’s food import bill.

Model bills for plant protection and animal health, food safety, fish health and fisheries products with relevant protocols and standards for adoption by all CARIFORUM states were completed under a European Union Funded Project, the IICA’s local office stated.

MODEL BILLS
The bills, described as model bills, were prepared for the Region under a component of the European Union (EU) funded Sanitary and Phyto-Sanitary (SPS) Project.

Local representative, Mr Wilmot Garnett said that this component of the SPS Project had focused on the development of model legislation in the areas of animal health, plant health and food safety with the aim of enhancing CARIFORUM AHFS efforts and strengthening enforcement of protocols, standards, and measures.

The EU project being implemented by the IICA supported the drafting of the bills by regional and international consultants and reviewed by experts from the World Animal Health Organization (OIE), as well as technical experts from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).

Apart from Guyana other beneficiary countries are Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Haiti, Jamaica, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, The Bahamas, and Trinidad and Tobago.

Representatives of the CARIFORUM countries, including technical officers from Guyana endorsed them during a Legislative Validation Workshop held in Barbados recently.

The bills are to be taken through the remaining process of recommendations and adoption by member countries through their Parliaments.

Veterinarian and Food Safety Specialist, Dr. Colin James, one of five technical officers who represented Guyana said: “The endorsements of the three bills were arrived at after intense discussions. The Guyanese representatives were happy with the outcome .These legislations are not only for the expansion of Regional trade but for international trade, as well as protecting local consumers.”

Dr Mark Pierre, another Guyana representative, also expressed satisfaction with the usefulness of the model bills. He added: “I think it is up to us now in Guyana to move forward to the next step, which would be to review our legislations that are still outstanding, in comparison to the CARIFORUM model and guidelines and bring them up to par with those.”