(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) Caribbean countries were today assured of scientific and technical assistance to improve plant health systems which if not effectively dealt with could negatively impact on the work towards ensuring food security which has become critical in the face of rising food prices across the globe.
This assurance came from the International Development Partners (IDP) of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) in an initiative which is aimed at coordinating the Caribbean plant health officials as they seek to position themselves to positively contribute to the issues of rising food prices and preventing the entry of invasive species into the countries.
Representatives of the IDP gave this assurance when they addressed delegates at the first Meeting of Caribbean Plant Health Directors which convened at the CARICOM Secretariat headquarters in Guyana today.
Dr. John Shaw of the United States Department of Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (USDA APHIS) said traditionally his agency focused its attention on early detection of plant pests in USA, monitoring of existing pests and providing an extended line of defense to the entry of invasive species in the United States. He added that due to the historical and geographic ties between the United States and the Caribbean there is mutual interest in devising mechanisms for dealing with invasive species. He informed that to date the Region had received equipment to assist with the early detection of invasive species.
The USDA APHIS representative highlighted that the Caribbean remained one of the few geographic regions that without a regional plant protecting organization.
“We would like to support a variety of initiatives to provide a coordinating and united approach to protect Caribbean countries from the entry of invasive species,” said Dr. Shaw. “We are heartened that our Caribbean partners are looking to establishing a system of extended dialogue,” he added.
Mr. Ignatius Jean of the Inter American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) stressed that in dealing with the challenges posed by invasive species Caribbean countries needed to find a balance between trade and science based initiatives. He reminded that tourism is a major foreign exchange earner for many Caribbean countries and with a population that is known to travel extensively the Caribbean has some particular challenges to overcome in devising strategies to deal with invasive species.
He also reminded that Plant Health is among the key binding constraints in regional agriculture and to which Caribbean countries are committed to removing as a means of ensuing food security for the population.
“We need to devise ways to mitigate plant health risk which will increasingly become a serious challenge for the Region,” Mr. Jean stressed.
The representative from CIRAD, the French Agency for Animal and Plant Health Dr Pierre-Yves Tycheney said the decision to commence work on developing a coordinating approach to deal with challenges in the plant health sector was timely.
He stressed that in promoting food security Caribbean counties need to implement a network to deal with the challenges facing the plant health sector in as much the same way as countries had done for animal health.
The other IDP for this initiative is the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). The meeting concludes on Friday 25 April 2008.
