On Wednesday, GEORGETOWN, Guyana, CMC – The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) Sub-regional Office for the Caribbean and the Canadian government signed a grant agreement for gender-responsive climate-smart agriculture and food systems in the Caribbean.
The four-year CAD$10 million (One Canadian dollar = US$0.73 cents) project will be implemented by the FAO in Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and Suriname.
The project, which will also involve local government and civil society partners, will enhance Caribbean farmers’ resilience to climate change and contribute to economic growth in the region.
First announced by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during the Canada-CARICOM Summit in October 2023, the regional project will contribute to improving the livelihoods of women and youth in climate-resilient agriculture value chains in the Caribbean.
The FAO Representative in Guyana, Dr. Gillian Smith, speaking at the project’s launch, said that the FAO has been working with the Guyana government and other stakeholders “all towards increasing the efficient use of the country’s resources” and ensuring that farmers, fishers, and producers are “maximizing their potential.”
She further emphasized the necessity of working through partnerships to follow the lead of the country’s development agenda, “save time and energy,” and “leave no gaps.”
Deputy Director and Head of Cooperation at the High Commission of Canada in Guyana, Adam Loyer, acknowledged “the significant damage observed to agriculture, food security, and livelihoods of many farmers across the region” in the aftermath of Hurricane Beryl.
He commended Guyana’s “swift efforts to bring together relevant CARICOM stakeholders following the damage caused by Hurricane Beryl to chart the way forward for the agriculture sector in the region and to address setbacks to the 25 by 2025 initiative”.
He told the ceremony that Canada supports “CARICOM’s ambitions to increase the resilience of their food systems to disasters and other shocks by augmenting domestic food production through climate-smart agricultural practices and reduce dependence on food imports.”
The director of Planning at the Guyana Ministry of Agriculture, Natasha Deonarine, said the Ministry “identified fisheries and aquaculture industry to be the main focus of this project,” adding that in 2024, GUY$1.2 billion (One Guyana dollar = US$0.004 cents) had been allocated to enhance fisheries and aquaculture productivity.
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