The Benefit Sharing Fund (BSF) Next Generation Sweet Potato Project Inception Meeting

The Benefit Sharing Fund (BSF) Next Generation Sweet Potato Project Inception Meeting

by Carol-Faye Bynoe-George & Craig Thomas

 

St. John’s, 1st August 2024– Technicians from the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) participated in an inception meeting coordinated by The Inter-American Institution for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) in collaboration with other partners which included The Caribbean Agriculture Research Development Institute (CARDI) and the Food Agriculture Organization (FAO) to discuss the upcoming project activities outline for Year 1 under the Next Generation Sweet Potato Project.

A Four year regional project which will include Jamaica, St. Lucia, and Antigua & Barbuda valued at over USD$500,000.00 funded through the Funding Strategy and Resource Mobilization of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture under the Benefit-sharing Fund facilitated by FAO Rome. The project will focus on improving livelihoods for small-scale sweet potato farmers in developing countries, and food security and sustainable agriculture promoted through the conservation and sustainable use of Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (PGRFA).

The focus of the inception meeting was to discuss pertinent logistics actions as well as the expected roles and responsibilities of each stakeholder and the expected outcomes for the first year of the project. It was agreed by the Technicians that it is essential to strengthen small farmers, promote cooperation between different actors and improve access to technologies and the quality of life of rural communities.

The three main output of the project is the following:

  1. Adapted PGRFA managed or improved with farmers participation;
  2. Enhanced local value chains improved the production and consumption of adapted PGRFA;
  3. Mechanisms strengthen to enhance the sharing of PGRFA materials, data and knowledge.

IICA Delegation in Antigua and Barbuda will collaborate with the Ministry of Agriculture and other stakeholder to host a jointed regional launch of the project which is expected to be executed between Mid-October to mid-November, 2024.

The International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture are the conservation and sustainable use of all plant genetic resources for food and agriculture and the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising out of their use, in harmony with the Convention on Biological Diversity, for sustainable agriculture and food security.