The Caricom Secretariat said three agriculture ministries within the community are set to benefit from assistance to develop information and communication strategies to bridge the divide between policy-makers, the media and the public.

According to a press release, the member states are yet to be identified for the Food and Drug Organisation-funded project which will be piloted in states where the organisation currently has technical corporation projects. The Caribbean Institute for Media and Communication (CARIMAC) is the regional implementation agency for the Communication for Sustainable Development Initiative which is a global FAO initiative that is currently ongoing in other world regions.

Coordinator for CARIMAC’s Caribbean component Dr Maria Protz said the project would be valuable in assisting the region’s agriculture ministries to bridge the information gap among agriculture policy makers, the media and the public. She also said the elements of the project to be implemented in the Caribbean were mainstreaming communications strategies; developing training in communication for Extension Services Officers; training in communication for farmers and publishing.

Protz said the publishing component is very important. She said too much of the work done in the Caribbean is not documented and this component of the project seeks to provide some assistance to people in agriculture to publish their work so that it can be widely distributed. “People in agriculture want to develop partnerships with journalists and while this is important, it is no less important for ministries of agriculture to have communications specialists placed within the ministries to carry out some core functions,” she said.

These functions include developing and delivering information products, translating policy for the purpose of effectively communicating same to stakeholders and networking with journalists.