–at regional ‘agri’ meet

MINISTER of Agriculture, Noel Holder, recently attended the Conference of Ministers of Agriculture of the Americas’ 20th Regular Meeting of the Inter-American Board of Agriculture (IABA) held in San Jose, Costa Rica.

He was one of three panelists invited to speak on three main subject areas, namely: ‘Opportunities for rural inclusion in the digital era’, ‘Towards a new balance between productivity and sustainability’, and ‘Health, Safety and quality for the future of trade’.
The agenda for the conference covered issues such as rural inclusion in the digital era, striking a balance between productivity and sustainability, and the interaction among health, safety and international trade, all key elements for the hemisphere’s agriculture sector. The agenda also reflected the economic, social, environmental and demographic challenges facing agriculture in the Americas, given the need to guarantee global food security in the years ahead against the backdrop of a burgeoning population and pressure on natural resources.

“The challenges are daunting because the population is growing; we are faced with climate change, and we also have to deliver innovation to the countryside, ensure that young people continue to work in agricultural production, and offer sustainable, healthy options for life,” the President of Costa Rica, Carlos Alvarado, noted in a message welcoming the overseas delegations.

“In the Americas, agriculture and agricultural trade operate under a variety of social, economic and technological conditions, but all the countries face the huge challenge of making production more sustainable, inclusive and competitive. The Conference of Ministers of Agriculture of the Americas 2019 will provide a framework for addressing those differences, with a view to connecting countries, individuals, technologies and knowledge on behalf of agricultural development and rural dwellers,” observed the Director-General of IICA, Manuel Otero.

The meeting was aimed at providing an important opportunity to engage in dialogue and enable governments to forge partnerships with the private sector. The IABA is the highest-level governing body of IICA, the agency of the inter-American system specialising in agricultural and rural development. The discussions and deliberations of the ministers and secretaries of agriculture will also serve to guide and promote the modernisation of this sector in the Americas, and provide a ringing endorsement of the actions that IICA is implementing aimed at the organisation’s renewal. The IABA met every two years since 1981, and the meeting in October was the first to be held since the Director General of IICA, Manuel Otero, took office in January 2018.

Meanwhile, in his presentation to the conference, Minister Holder highlighted the importance of improved agricultural productivity. “Improvements in agricultural productivity growth are required to meet the growing demand for food, feed, fuel and fibres, and must be achieved sustainably through more efficient use of natural and human resources.”
The Agriculture Minister addressed the conference on the topic of “Toward a new balance between productivity and sustainability.” In his presentation, he highlighted several actions that could be taken to promote better use of opportunities to achieve this balance.

“Investing in Research and Development, to address the major environmental problems associated with agriculture, like soil erosion, pesticide pollution, deforestation and genetic erosion, or other processes linked to the overexploitation of natural resources, Good Agriculture Practices such as Integrated Pest Management, Breed Development Programmes – selecting best breeds for multiplication in our livestock development efforts. Increase in productivity through the breeding programme is very cost-effective and is sustainable.”

Other opportunities include Economic Incentives and Disincentives for beneficial support to the environment, revenue collection through a tax on chemical fertilizers and pesticides, and groundwater abstraction charges.

The minister’s presentation also shed light on some of the challenges that could be faced in trying to achieve this sustainability. Some of these challenges include low innovation due to knowledge gaps, a weak regulatory and enforcement capacity, and most importantly, financing.

“Financial barriers exist both for public (regulators) and private (practitioners) within the agriculture sector, which must be overcome to maximize productivity and sustainability. Due to budgetary constraints, the high cost of new technologies and promotional/educational training programmes aimed at bio-economic strategies and alternative production systems for balancing sustainability and productivity of resources is often delayed.”

As Guyana and the world as a whole continue to move towards more sustainable agriculture, more and more policies and conferences and research are being conducted to find more ways to improve productivity to be able to meet the demands of a growing population.

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Minister of Agriculture, Noel Holder