Agriculture Economist at the OECS Secretariat George Alcee believes that all industries in the sub-region depend on the survival of the agriculture sector. Alcee emphasized this at the recent meeting of OECS Ministers of Agriculture in St. Johns.

“The survival of any other service industry including tourism is dependant on the survival of agriculture and this is widely recognized. For the tourism industry to succeed it must also depend on agriculture.

You have an annual demand from the hospitality industry in every country for agricultural commodities to satisfy visitors. These people must be fed and a critical thing is to have a consistent supply of wholesome food available to the hospitality sector. The synergies must be exploited.”-Alcee

During the meeting on March 31 st, ministers were taken through a Plan of Action that outlines nine programme areas designed to facilitate a turn around of the contracted Agriculture Sector. Support institutions updated the meeting on what was ongoing in their respective work-plans and proposed new interventions of assistance consistent with the nine areas identified in the Plan of Action. Some support institutions are already leading in certain programme areas and others are assisting.

During the meeting the Ministers requested that the Secretariat develops a full programme with a budget by September 2005 so that funds can be sourced for implementation.

The ministers discussed the approach towards implementing several identified programme areas and the supporting role of the OECS Secretariat and other stakeholders to help improve the agriculture sector. Alcee notes that there was extensive discussion on the best linkages between agriculture and tourism, the sub-region’s two most vital industries.

Support institutions such as IICA, Ministries of Agriculture, The Caribbean Development Bank, FAO, Caricom Secretariat, CARDI and the network CAMID hinted several focus areasand subsequently proposed a collaborative effort in seeing the agri-tourism programme off the ground. Alcee indicated that the urgency of prioritizing the best linkages between the two vital industries has been enhanced by an OAS funded workshop in Basseterre on March 14 th that looked at strengthening the linkages between agriculture and tourism.

Alcee says the issue of agri-tourism is one of two of the most important areas expressed by the OECS Authority. The other being, developing an incentives package for agricultural development in the OECS..

The other targeted programme areas to revitalize the industry are developing an effective and efficient marketing system, strengthening the capabilities of the agricultural health and food safety systems in the Member States to meet the challenges of trade and to improve availability, quality and management systems for water in agriculture.

The challenges of the global environment, adverse weather conditions, domestic deficiencies, and lack of institutional capacity of Ministries of Agriculture, have all impacted on the performance of the Agriculture sector in the OECS.

Contacts:
George Alcee Agriculture Economist
Kendol Morgan Senior Communications Officer OECS Secretariat This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Raymond O’Keiffe Comm.Officer OECS Secretariat email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it