The 35^th West Indies Agricultural Economics Conference opened on Monday at the University of Guyana’s Turkeyen Campus, under the theme “Drivers for Agriculture and Economic Development.”

Hosted by the University of Guyana’s Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry in collaboration with the Caribbean Agro-Economic Society (CAAES), and the Ministry of Agriculture, the conference is focusing on a wide range of topics, from food security and innovation, to climate resilience and economic transformation.

Ministry of Agriculture Advisor on CARICOM and Agri-Food System, Dr Richard Blair, said Agriculture is key to sustainable and inclusive economic growth and development, and universities must streamline programmes to meet the demands of the rapidly changing sector.

“First, build fit for purpose graduates; produce agro entrepreneurs but not just job seekers. Embed data literacy; every student that passes through the University of Guyana should be empowered with the understanding of market thinking, and sustainability into every agriculture programme,” Dr Blair said.

Noting that agriculture should be tech-driven, and youth centered, Dr Blair also made a case for the University to be positioned as a think tank and policy lab.

“UG can directly in this way help to shape Guyana’s Agriculture Transformation. Make this university, the place where industries seek out for answers and the Ministry of Agriculture as well,” Dr Blair said.

Vice Chancellor of the University of Guyana, Professor Dr. Paloma Mohamed-Martin said the conference provides an opportunity for the region to discuss how technology can be capitalized to advance agriculture development in the region. 

She said already, satellite data from NASA is being used to create a climate dashboard that provides critical information on the climate system and its changes.

“Our own Faulty of Agriculture is looking at the assimilation that happens through flooding in our country and other countries, how to we make some of our crops like rice, etc, much more resistant to these kinds of increasing climate challenges but also in the future, how are we going to use robots to help us to do farming at a large scale,” the Vice Chancellor said.

Professor Mohamed-Martin said the conference also creates the opportunity for Universities within the region to collaborate in the area of Agriculture.

Dean of the Faculty of Agriculture, Lambert Chester; Conference Chair and Local Organising Committee and Coordinator of Msc Agro-Technolohu and Business Programme, Dr Donna Morrison and President of the Caribbean Agro-Economic Society (CAAES), Dr Govind Seepersad were among the officials present.

Related posts:

Conference Village opens at Kingston Esplanade ahead of Energy Conference and Supply Chain Expo Major UN Conference on Land Management and Impact of Climate Change opens in Guyana International Civil Aviation Conference opens with focus on regulations and development Caribbean Nations Security Conference opens in Guyana with focus on cooperation