MEMBERS of the Caribbean Network of Rural Women Producers (CANROP) in Guyana and in nine other CARICOM countries have been equipped with training in Knowledge Management-a relatively new management technique which enables practitioners to apply knowledge strategically to better achieve their objectives of innovation, increased productivity, competitiveness and growth.

The organisers of the programme were the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) and the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation African Caribbean Pacific Countries – European Union ACP-EU (CTA).

There were over 20 participants drawn from Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and The Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, and Guyana, with the Guyanese participants mainly being women involved in agro-processing.

The resource persons were Ms. Melike Hemmani and Mr. Koenraad Beelen of the CO-capacity Consulting firm of the Netherlands.

The participants all received certificates during a closing ceremony at the end of the three-day programme, attended by Agriculture Minister Dr. Leslie Ramsammy; Ms. Hymwattie Lagan, Head of the Women’s Affairs Bureau; local and other IICA officials; Coordinator of the IICA office in St Lucia, Mr Kirvin Stephenson; and Ms. Carmen Nurse, President of CANROP.

Ramsammy urged the women to lead the charge with locally produced goods in the battle for the replacement of expensive food imports in the Caribbean. To loud supportive applause, he said: “Let us right now make a commitment that every time we eat carrots in the Caribbean we will eat carrots from a Caribbean country, supporting employment, investments, entrepreneurship and professional opportunities right here in the Caribbean.”

He added: “There must be a Guyana brand, a Jamaica brand, a Trinidad brand, a St Kittitian brand, a St Vincent brand. We can all come together to supply the things that we need, and create employment right here without in any way isolating ourselves from the rest of the world.”

IICA Representative in Guyana, Mr. Wilmot Garnett, disclosed that the training had been a direct outcome of discussions held during a Women’s Forum at the Caribbean Week of Agriculture in Guyana last year.

This recent forum, he said, had addressed the subject of expanding economic opportunities for Women in Agriculture in the Caribbean and the Pacific.

The Knowledge Management workshop was also in keeping with CANROP’s Five-Year Strategic Plan (2014-2019).

Ms. Lagan, who spoke on behalf of Ms. Jennifer Webster, Minister of Human Services and Social Security, said it is well known that women’s empowerment is a catalyst for the development of any society in any part of the world, moreso in the Caribbean.

She said: “We all agree that this is the way to go. It is imperative that we establish linkages between agriculture and other industries; that we motivate women’s involvement, and increase economic gains.”

Mr. Garnett said IICA acknowledges that rural women are one of the driving forces of an economy, while they hold equal responsibility for family development, stability, and survival.

“Women, as producers of foodstuffs through family agriculture, are critical participants in decisions on the use and distribution of family income; they are also stakeholders.”

IICA, he said, remained committed to supporting CANROP and its use of the Knowledge Management skills imparted during the three-day programme as a developmental tool.
Written By Clifford Stanley