Education for Rural People: Food Security, Agricultural Caribbean Conference on Competitiveness and Sustainable Liveliho

1. Education for Rural People: Food Security, Agricultural Caribbean Conference on Competitiveness and Sustainable Livelihoods Current status of Poverty, Food Security, Employment, Agricultural Competitiveness and Sustainable Livelihoods in the Caribbean: Implications for Education and Training

2. TEAM A1 • Michael Pierre Maria Nicholas • Philmore Isaacs Albertina Mondesir • Calvin James • Lucy Altenor Joseph • Michael Andrew • Gregg Rawlins (Facilitator) • David Atchoarena

3. Current Status and Patterns of MDI • It is worth emphasizing that gains made in the achieving MDI goals are under threat of derailment and reversal as a consequence of the new sugar and banana regimes. • Need for the policies to effect wholistic rural transformation for sustainable development in education, agriculture and all social and economic sectors

4. Current Patterns- Poverty & Employment • High unemployment figures in all countries. • Statistics show higher incidence in rural areas except in T & T • More meaningful to focus on age/group specific concentration of unemployment rather than geographical location of unemployment to develop targeted intervention strategies-youth (teenage mothers), disabled, indigenous people • Need to capture impact of informal economy and remittances to provide realistic employment and poverty levels

5. Current Patterns- Food Security • Adequate & affordable supply in most countries • Growing poor nutritional patterns- increasing junk-food consumption. • low grade food imports • Inadequate local food handling and preparation practices/ standards (increased #’s of vendors) • Incongruence between consumption patterns, choices and income levels, spending patterns • Reorienting budgeting practices and skills- prioritisation

6. Agricultural Competitiveness • High production costs- inefficiencies in economies of scale • Risk aversion of farmers & fishers, attractive farming incentives underdeveloped • Lack of knowledge in management and access to new technologies • High transportation costs and communication and marketing infrastructure • Farmer/fisher co-ops/collectives non-existent or weak • Need to identify niche products, organic and intensive farming patterns, water mangement

7. Current Patterns- Sustainable Livelihoods • Focus on traditional quick yeilding cash crops depletes soil (chemical use) • Periods of glut and scarcity in local products • Over-fishing in coastal areas,(border conflicts) • Little attention to reforestation conservation practices • Marginal land usage-low productivity

8. S W O T • S-Existing regional training & R &D instit. UWI, CARDI, large youth population • W-Limited land, absence of agri. land policy & land tenure insecurity, poor m’k’ting intelligence gathering & dissemination, lack of coordination • O-Regional Agri. policy, integrated approach to training • T- Vulnerability to natural disasters, consequences of WTO, high price of inputs-fuel

9. Ed. & Training Policies Entreprenership training • Management Training- Land, water, • Food Technologists/Food processors • Post Harvest training • Rural Sociologists • Marketing • National Development Framework- an integrated approach to facilitate efficiencies in deployment of resources • Common accreditation standards for agri. in national colleges/ Curriculum flexibility

10. Institutions • Strengthen regional R & D institutions • Incentives for low-cost technology development and implementation • Incentives for youth in agri-business- low interest, no collateral loans • Packing Houses • Strengthen community based groups and grass-roots decision-making capabilities • Training centres in the communities • Capacity building in Teacher Training to ensure new methods of delivering agri.

11. Good Initiatives • Decentralised short-term training and support community centres • Multi-purpose community centres • Micro-credit facilities as exist in Barbados to encourage entrepreneurship • Small, Sweet Caribbean bananas, jerk

12. In anticipation of our follow-up! • Let’s make translate this talk shop into workshops in our countries! Thank You!