A TEAM of government officials of Trinidad and Tobago led by Minister of Food Production, Senator Devant Maharaj yesterday met President Donald Ramotar to deepen discussions on the offer advanced in the Jagdeo Initiative to shore-up food production in the Caribbean Community (CARICOM).

Minister of Agriculture, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy and Minister of Natural Resources and the Environment, Robert Persaud joined the meeting at Office of the President, exploring the options.
Another meeting is scheduled for today where discussions will zero in on synergies that Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago can take advantage of, like agro-processing, Senator Maharaj said in an invited comment to the Government Information Agency (GINA).
He was accompanied by Director of Agriculture Planning, Matthew Lee, Programme Coordinator, Nigel Grimes and Deputy Permanent Secretary, Myrna Thompson, all in the Ministry of Food Production.
The Trinidad and Tobago Government has given priority to Guyana’s offer to assist other CARICOM countries in the area of food production, and has included it in the twin Island Republic’s 2012 national budget of TT$58.4B.
The Island’s Finance Minister, Larry Howai was reported by CMC in October as saying that the Kamla Persaud Bissessar administration is looking to establish a food security facility with Guyana that would commit both governments to expand agricultural production in Guyana through the establishment of commercial relationships for funding the establishment of several large agricultural estates in Guyana.
Food security has been an issue of international concern for policy makers, facing the climate change phenomenon and the convergence of land for cultivating food solely for renewable energy purposes.
Riots in Tunisia over food, predictions by scientists about water scarcity in the near future and an “unacceptably” high CARICOM food import bill are posing serious challenges. However, with arable land and fresh water, Guyana is likely to have the answer.
Plantation type agriculture in the intermediate savannahs and the Takutu River bridge linking Guyana and Brazil have given Guyana promise as a gateway to South America for Caricom and vice versa.
In 2004, former President Bharrat Jagdeo presented the Jagdeo Initiative to the Conference of CARICOM Heads of Government, winning endorsement as an initiative that will give priority to the Region’s agriculture sector for sustainability.
It identifies and defines nine key, critical and binding constraints to the development of the agriculture sector in the Caribbean region and also practical interventions at both the regional and national levels to alleviate these constraints.
The Jagdeo Initiative has its genesis in 2002 when Jagdeo approached the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) for assistance in repositioning agriculture in the region.