Priorities and Mandates of Regional and Sub-regional Integration Schemes in the Area of food Security George Alcee, Official of the Agriculture Programme Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS)
Economic and Technical Cooperation XXIII Meeting of International Cooperation Directors for Latin America and the Caribbean. Regional cooperation in the area of food security Belize City, Belize 1 and 2 October 2012 SP/XXIII-RDCIALC/Di N° 10-12
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XXIII Meeting of International Cooperation Directors of Latin America and the Caribbean
Priorities and Mandates of Regional and Sub-regional Integration Schemes in the Area of food Security Belize, 11-2 October 2012
George Alcee Alcee
Introduction/Challenges • OECS agriculture is recognized for its potential role in the development process as envisioned in the Development Charter and the Draft Treaty to establish the Economic Union • Transformation and integration are benchmarks of agriculture in the process
Introduction/challenges • In this context the balance between agriculture productivity and the conservation of the environment and attention to poverty and food and nutrition insecurity is of extreme relevance
Introduction/challenges • Food and nutrition security and its linkages to rural poverty, semi commercial and subsistence remains central objective in all OECS member countries • Actions outlined to alleviate poverty and food insecurity include: - production (agriculture, fisheries and forestry) - Food processing and distribution - Health and nutrition
Introduction/Challenges -
Trade Infrastructure Social welfare/safety net Education and information and communication CHALLENGES - The events of the rising food prices 2007-2008 - Financial crisis 2008-2009 - Affected all OECS countries IR increased unemployment, reduced income opportunities, tourist arrivals, and remittances
Introduction - Decreased purchasing power – serious impacts on the poor - World bank data suggests that the effect of the global crisis was deeper in the OECS than Latin America: - 2003-2008 real GDP grew by 34 % implying a 5% annual growth rate - However, in 2009 contracted by 5.7%
Introduction/Challenges - Contraction persisted across OECS in 2010 at an average of 2.2% of GDP
Introduction/Challenges - Diseconomies of scale and fragmented and scattered production - Ltd use of improved technologies - Food and nutrition insecurity and rural poverty coupled with reduced earnings and unemployment - Inadequate shipping
Introduction/Challenges • • • • •
Poor natural resource management Low product quality and standards The demands of markets Flows of capital and investment Rate of research and technological development • Inadequate information diffusion systems and • Climate variability
Sector Performance
Agriculture GDP (2006-2011) 450
GDP (at basic prices, constant, EC$ Million)
400 382.71 350
345.14
338.67 310.6
300 278.69
339.58 317.39
319.77
222.68
crops 247.57
238.65 200.4
Agriculture
276.79
268.8
250 200
349.27
219.97
219.11
204.44
livestock forestry fishing
150 100
100.35
50
56.87
0
other crops
9.58 2006
110.17
105.6
60.59
62.99
9.29 2007
9.12
89.86 73.13
9.06
2008
2009 Year
95.37
96.41
62.16
61.67
10.32 2010
10.53 2011
Sector Performance
Agric. Percent Contribution to GDP at (K) Prices 2006-2011 4 3.57
3.5 3.22
3.15
Percentage contribution
3
2.5
3.19
2.93 2.62
2.54
2.94
2.83
2.33
2.27 2.13
2 1.83
1.77
Agriculture
2.53
1.88
2.01
2.01
0.5
0
other crops livestock forestry
1.5
1
crops
fishing
0.92
0.95
0.89
0.52
0.52
0.53
0.09 2006
0.08 2007
0.8 0.65
0.08
0.08
2008
2009
0.87
0.89
0.57
0.57
0.09 2010
0.1 2011
Years
Sector Performance • The preceding strongly suggests a generally disappointing performance of OECS agriculture • Despite secular decline: - Agriculture remains an important sector in the economic and social development of the region IR food and nutrition security, the stability of the rural economy and the provision of input to other sectors.
Priorities/Mandates • Based on sectoral review priorities were presented to OECS Ministers of Agriculture to strengthen POA. • Arising out of considerations areas emerged as input for a reoriented plan include:
Priorities/Mandates • private sector led strategies to transform OECS agriculture by enhancing response to the new trends in non-traditional agriculture • balancing the integration of poverty considerations in commercial supply chains;
Priorities/Mandates - a strategy for financing agriculture and for resource mobilization primarily for the regional programme; - strategies to address the impacts of climate change and climate variability;
Priorities/Mandates • enabling more coherent and effective participation of OECS Member States in the regional programme; and • and approaches to more systematically developing synergies with CARICOMwide agriculture.
Priorities/Mandates • OECS Ministers further Mandated the development of the programme priorities paying attention to: • Identifying a set of agriculture products in which the OECS region has a competitive production and trading advantage; • Identifying and targeting appropriate private sector operators, including financial institutions, for the establishment of partnerships
Priorities/Mandates • Reducing the high costs of agriculture inputs, in particular fertilizers and feeds, through joint procurement; • Risk Management, including introducing and strengthening insurance arrangements for crops, livestock and fisheries; preadial larceny; • The cross-cutting need to put measures in place to ensure preservation of environmental integrity •
Priorities/Mandates • 8 new programme priorities comprising the Revised OECS Regional Plan for Agriculture have been developed • Overall Strategic objective of Plan “To transform the agricultural sector of the OECS Member States while reducing poverty and promoting food and nutrition security” • The plan identifies platform interventions that will address: - Policy;
Priorities/Mandates - Legal and institutional reform; - Production and marketing; - Programme promotion and education; and - Monitoring and evaluation • For purpose of this Meeting – priority 1&6
Priorities/ Mandates • Priority 1: Promotion of a Market Oriented Agribusiness Approach to Alleviating
Priorities/Mandates • Objectives • Modernization of agriculture through the promotion of and support to public and private sector initiatives in response to national and regional food and nutrition security demands and export opportunities; and Alleviation of poverty and food insecurity through policy and incentive regimes that encourage transition of rural populations out of poverty and vulnerability to poverty.
Priorities/Mandates • In addressing the transformation the following measures will promote and protect production through the delivery of the following services: • Incentives regimes that promote and provide for technology transfer and adoption, innovation, productivity, input support, access to credit and inputs • The provision of safety nets for vulnerable population groups
Priorities/Mandates • Pest and disease control protocols, and SPS • Food safety and standards development and adoption • Compliance with trade facilitation measures and regulations • Measures to combat praedial larceny • Insurance
Priorities/Mandates • Mechanisms/Interventions to address food insecurity and poverty challenges include: • The integration of the Plan with the Regional Food and Nutrition Security Policy (RFNSP) paying attention to agro-ecological organic agriculture and sustainable development;
Priorities/Mandates • Modernisation and innovation through primary and value added production technology, to include protected agriculture through greenhouse technology to attract the youth; Production ecosystems with the promotion of value chain enhancement processes and agribusiness commercial production systems that will generate employment and incomes in rural communities;
Priorities/Mandates • The realignment of support services in the public and private sectors (with particular emphasis on Ministries of Agriculture) and strengthening of skills capacities to effect technology transfer and agri-business development transformation; • The strengthening of farmer/fisher folk organizations with particular emphasis on the mobilization of youth for succession and improved governance of the sector; • The development of national and regional institutional structures that will support transformation of the sector;
Priorities/Mandates – Promotion of investment opportunities in Agro-tourism sites and services – Promote safety nets for vulnerable population groups (gender sensitive, youth) – Information Dissemination through establishment of a regional information management system and networking capacity that will address data collection and analysis, storage and dissemination and specifically agricultural production and market information and intelligence (supply and demand) as well as data on poverty, food and nutrition security.
Priorities/Mandates • Establishment of a food insecurity and poverty monitoring mechanism to complement the regional information system mentioned above.
Priorities/Mandates • Programme Priority 6: Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation and Securing Water Resources for Sustainable Development • Objectives • Promote and support climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies including early warning systems, and mainstream in agriculture programmes to protect food production systems and build resilience against tropical storms, heavy rains, extreme temperatures and droughts
• Objectives • Promote and support climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies including early warning systems, and mainstream in agriculture programmes to protect food production systems and build resilience against tropical storms, heavy rains, extreme temperatures and droughts in rural/farming communities. • Secure long term access to water for irrigation and value chain activities
• Thank You
