Minister of Agriculture the Hon. V. Minister of Agriculture, Marine Resources and Local Government the Hon. V. Alfred Gray (3rd from left) talks with the Food and Agriculture Organization’s Sub-Regional Office in Barbados, Co-ordinator, Dr. J. R. Deep Ford (fourth from left). Also pictured from left: General Manager, the Bahamas Agricultural and Industrial Corporation, Benjamin Rahming; Permanent Secretary, the Ministry of Agriculture, Marine Resources and Local Government, Rena Glinton; and the Bahamas Ambassador to FAO, Mr. Godfrey Eneas. (BIS photo/Raymond Bethel)

NASSAU, The Bahamas -- A historic meeting to address the agricultural concerns of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) with the Director General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) José Graziano da Silva and Ministers of Agriculture of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) will be held at the British Colonial Hilton on Tuesday, February 24, 2015.

Minister of Agriculture, Marine Resources and Local Government the Hon. V. Alfred Gray made the announcement at his office, Monday, February 23, 2015.

The Minister explained that during the Third Regional Conference with Ministers of Agriculture for Latin America and the Caribbean that took place in Santiago, Chile in May 2014, CARICOM Ministers were of the view that the issues facing the Caribbean were all lost in the mix of the overall conference where major producing nations such as Argentina, Chile, Mexico, Brazil and Uruguay were the dominant players in that conference.

“The CARICOM Ministers of Agriculture needed a forum of their own to discuss Caribbean issues, hence the genesis of the meeting of Ministers scheduled for tomorrow at the British Colonial Hilton Hotel here in New Providence.”

He said, “This meeting is historic because it is the first of its kind ever to be held anywhere. All Ministries of Agriculture in CARICOM will be represented, mostly by Ministers themselves, but some by their Parliamentary Secretaries or Permanent Secretaries of their Ministries.”

A representative from Brazil, one of the largest agricultural producing countries, is also expected to attend and make a presentation.

Minister Gray said the meeting was organized by FAO’s Sub-Regional Office in Barbados, headed by Co-ordinator, Dr. Deep Ford and the FAO representative to The Bahamas stationed in Jamaica, Dr. Jerome Thomas. The Bahamas Ambassador to FAO, Mr. Godfrey Eneas assisted with the preparations.

Mr. Eneas said the meeting on Tuesday is important as the Caribbean seems to be lost in the Latin America region on certain issues. “When you look at Latin America and the larger countries, Latin America is a food surplus producing region, while we in the Caribbean are in a food deficit region,” Mr. Eneas said. “The Caribbean is faced with this huge import bill because our agriculture has not been able to supply all of the food needs of the region.”

He also noted that the economies of Caribbean countries except for Guyana, Belize and Suriname, are tourism driven. “With tourism you exacerbate this issue of food imports. So we felt in Chile that the number one issue facing the region was this huge food import bill, which we have to eradicate and which we have to address.

“It is robbing our countries of jobs and of foreign exchange; as a result of that the Ministers felt that we needed to speak with the Director General directly and find a mechanism of addressing those issues,” Mr. Eneas said.

The Director General is also expected to address the CARICOM Heads of Government meeting later in the week.

On Wednesday, February 25, 2015, the Director General of FAO, Ministers of Agriculture of the Caribbean and/or their representatives will accompany Minister Gray and delegates from the Ministry of Agriculture, the Bahamas Agriculture and Marine Science Institute ( BAMSI) and the Bahamas Agricultural and Industrial Corporation to North Andros where they will visit BAMSI.

They will tour the commercial tutorial farm, the academic campus, the marine farm under construction and meet with students and faculty of the school.