ROADTOWN Tortola BVI, August 10th, 2012 – Safe guarding the Caribbean agricultural sector from the invasion of plant pests and diseases that could adversely affect trade is the main objective for a meeting next week with the Caribbean Plant Health Directors from across the region.
Participants at the meeting will focus on forming strategies, programmes and projects with the goal of combating the threat of pests and diseases and facilitating trade through the safeguarding of agriculture, thereby improving the standard of living for all.
The meeting, slated from August 14 to17, will commence with an opening ceremony on Tuesday, August 14 at 9:15 a.m. at Scrub Island Resort. Minister for Natural Resources and Labour Dr. the Honourable Kedrick Pickering; Chief Agricultural Officer, Mr. Bevin Brathwaite and representatives from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), the Agriculture Plant Health Inspection Services (APHIS), the Food & Agriculture Organization and the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) will deliver remarks.
Mr. Bevin Brathwaite told the Department of Information and Public Relations, “There is a steady increase in the volume and diversity of trade in plant materials and therefore an increase in the possibility for the development and spread of many more pest and disease pathways inclusive of the impact of climate change.”
He added, “It is important that plant health career professionals meet and come up with sustainable solutions for new and threatening pests and diseases. Our Virgin Islands is a small Territory. A single pest or disease could possibly easily destroy our eco-systems and cause an adverse effect on food production. Protecting all of our inhabitants; human and non-human, is only beneficial.”
The USDA, APHIS, IICA and the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations (UN) have partnered with the CARICOM Secretariat for these meetings.
The CARICOM Secretariat convened its first meeting in 2008 making this the fifth meeting of its kind. The last meeting was hosted by Trinidad and Tobago in May 2011. The aim was to protect the Caribbean from the invasion of plant pests and diseases that could act as a barrier to trade.
The Ministry of Natural Resources and Labour aims to protect and preserve the natural resources of the Virgin Islands.
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