The symposium is expected to bring over 70 key stakeholders together to lay the foundation and understanding of the various risk minimization strategies and risk transfer mechanisms for agriculture, an IICA press release stated.
A key objective of this consultative process is to solicit feedback from stakeholders towards the formulation of a country strategy for agricultural risk management, the release noted.
It stated further that an overview of the situation in Guyana will be presented, highlighting various interventions by the Guyana government to mitigate risks in agriculture, including the implementation of the US$21.9M agricultural diversification programme, massive investments in drainage and irrigation infrastructure, and the new weather information station at Timehri.
According to the release, this is a timely intervention by the government and forms part of the action in the country to alleviate a key binding constraint of the Jagdeo Initiative on Agriculture, i.e. inadequate risk management in agriculture.
The lead agencies mandated by the CARICOM Ministers of Agriculture to support the CARICOM Secretariat and the member states with the alleviation of this constraint are IICA, FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations) and CDEMA (Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency).
