– ahead of three-day agriculture meeting
DIRECTOR General of the Inter American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) Dr. Víctor Villalobos has hailed the lead role of President Bharrat Jagdeo on agriculture in the region. Yesterday, the Director General met President Jagdeo at the Office of the President to provide an update on a special meeting facilitated by IICA today that will focus on food production, agro-business, Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) measures and rural development.
The three-day meeting at the Guyana International Conference Centre (GICC) will attract representatives of all 17 nations of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) including experts in different fields.
During yesterday’s visit, the Director General was accompanied by IICA’s representative to Guyana Ignatius Jean, Deputy Director General Karen Lezny, Director of Performance Dowlat Budram and Director of Operations in the Caribbean Region Trevor Murray.
Minister of Agriculture Robert Persaud was also present at the meeting and will be the recipient of the outcome from the three-day meeting.
The Director General, who was appointed on January 15 and is in Guyana for the first time, said President Jagdeo, during the discussions, recommended that IICA promotes food production with the environment at heart.
The Director General told the Government Information Agency that IICA has already outlined a strategic four-year plan in which mechanisms will be implemented whereby there is collaboration between IICA and Ministers of Agriculture in the different regions to advance the programme.

The Guyanese Head of State gained acclaim in the Region for pioneering the Jagdeo Initiative on Agriculture, which points to some critical factors for agriculture to be sustained as a viable economic sector in the Community.

These are: agriculture as a business; agriculture spanning the agri-product chain and with organic links to other productive sectors; the increasing importance of value-added food products and non-food products; emphasis on national activities with sub-regional and regional activities.

The Jagdeo Initiative began in 2002 when President Jagdeo sought assistance from the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and IICA, in consultation with the CARICOM Secretariat for assistance in repositioning agriculture in the Region.
President Jagdeo presented a proposal on the initiative to the Conference of CARICOM Heads of Government in July 2004 where it was endorsed.