Agri group in bid to boost food security

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad – The Trinidad and Tobago Agri-Business Association (TTABA) is one of the collaborating partners in a regional initiative to boost food security. The project with the University of Wageningenin the Netherlands targets Barbados, Belize, St Kitts/Nevis and T&T and is aimed an ensuring food supplies “over the long term, in the midst of the constantly changing agro-ecological environment and for conserving and utilising the selected germplasm”, project coordinator Norman Gibson said. It was launched recently with a workshop hosted with the European Development Fund (EDF), which had the theme Improving Caribbean Food Security in the context of Climate Change, at the Hyatt Regency in Port-of-Spain Deputy Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Food Production, Stephanie Elder-Alexander, said the Caribbean was not immune to climatic events which impact on soil fertility and suitability for crop production, crop and forage productivity, livestock production, proliferation of insect pests and diseases and changes in water supply.