MITIGATING THE IMPACTS OF COVID-19

A Crowdfunding Project entitled, “Mitigating the impacts of COVID-19 through the supply of fresh food to rural households,” is an Inter-American Institute for Collaboration in Agriculture (IICA) initiative, which is being done in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture and the Caribbean Agricultural Research and Development Institute (CARDI). This project aims to assist farmers in Antigua and Barbuda in boosting production on their farms and further contribute to food nutrition and security.

Although the project has come to an end there were some outstanding activities which were schedule to be implemented in an effort tp support the Ministry of Agriculture field station. The project activities which were delayed due were delayed due to other outstanding activities under other projects. A newly established coconut plot at the Greencastle Agricultural Station in Bendals is the latest station to benefit from this project through the  collaborative effort and technical support of  Craig M. Thomas-IICA National Specialist, Victor Harris- Ministry of Agriculture Technician attached to the Dunbars Research Station, and Bradbury Browne -CARDI Technician and Irrigation Specialist. The team focused on installation of an efficient drip irrigation system on a half acre plot of recently established coconut plot in an effort to increase the coconut production in Antigua and Barbuda. According the station Manager Mr. Jamel Ralph the focus of this plot to rapid multiply the nuts  as well as increase the coconut value chain possibilities among the ago-processors.

The Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) launched a collective crowdfunding or micro-financing campaign entitled #IAmJoiningIICAChallenge to promote projects aimed at strengthening food security in rural communities of Haiti and Antigua and Barbuda, which are suffering from extreme vulnerability in the face of the pandemic caused by the novel coronavirus.