<\/p>\n
From Right to Left<\/p>\n
Mr. Paul Lucas – CARDI Representative for Antigua and Barbuda, CARDI Representative for Montserrat; Mr. Wilstan Henry \u2013 General worker; Mr. Bradbury Browne \u2013 CARDI Technician; Mr. Jan Kleijn – Intern (Undergraduate) from Netherlands; Mr. Delvin Batchelor \u2013\u00a0 Temporary Worker and CARDI staff Seed Production; Mr. Donnet Bowman \u2013 Administrative Assistant; Mr. Wesley Reid – Temporary Worker; Mrs. Carrol Josiah \u2013 Laboratory Assistant; Mr. Calvin Crogman \u2013 General worker (Not in the Photo); Mrs. Carol Benjamin – Office Custodian (Not in the Photo)<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Executive Director\u2019s Message on CARDI Day 2019<\/p>\n
It gives me great pleasure to welcome you to our 4th annual CARDI Day celebrations.
\nCARDI Day is an important event in our outreach calendar. Across the Region, on this symbolic
\nday we open our doors to all stakeholders to experience first-hand the breadth of our research
\nand development activities.<\/p>\n
In 2019, the Institute conducted\/initiated research in a range of exciting areas including climate
\nresilience, agro-energy, medical cannabis, industrialisation of Cascarilla and development of the
\nregional coconut industry among other areas. Today, we look forward to updating you on the
\nprogress of these and other activities.<\/p>\n
Over the last year, we in the Region, saw that climate change is not just an environmental issue.
\nIt is a real threat, with devastating consequences on agriculture, food security, health, livelihoods
\nand economic development. CARDI has been at the forefront of building a resilient agriculture
\nsector and we are especially proud of our accomplishments in this area.<\/p>\n
\uf0a7 In Jamaica, we completed the expansion and refurbishment of the seed storage facility at
\nBodles Agricultural Research Station. This modernised facility is now equipped to
\nconserve local and regional biodiversity \u2013 a key response to climate change adaptation.
\nThere is also an ongoing experiment to evaluate the effect of drought on sweet potato
\ngrowth and production.<\/p>\n
\uf0a7 In the Bahamas, we were part of the Rapid Needs Assessment Team (RNAT) coordinated
\nby the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) to conduct post
\ndisaster assessment for the agriculture sector following Hurricane Dorian. CARDI is
\nworking with the Ministry of Agriculture and other stakeholders on short term and long
\nterm responses to rebuild the ravaged agriculture sector.<\/p>\n
\uf0a7 In St Lucia together with CARICOM Japan we trained stakeholders from the OECS on
\nCrop Scheduling and Water Use Efficiency for Climate Change, and mapped the location
\nof 100 farms and identified their vulnerability to environmental risks.<\/p>\n
The CARDI Day platform also provides an opportunity for us to recognise our existing research
\ncollaborators and partners, without whom much of our work will not be possible. In this regard we
\nwant to especially thank the Ministries of Agriculture in each member state. As a valued partner,
\nyou have worked hand in hand with us on priority setting exercises and the implementation of
\ntargeted research and development activities. To all farmers \u2013 thank you. Your participation in
\ndemonstrating, testing and validating new products and technologies – the results of our research
\nactivities is much appreciated.<\/p>\n
Another important objective of the CARDI Day is it puts into focus the importance of agriculture
\nand agricultural research to economic development and improved livelihoods. This is critical as
\nwe continue to operate in a time when the value of agriculture and of agriculture research in
\nparticular is understated. Agriculture development and improved productivity holds the key to
\novercoming some of the challenges presently facing the Region, foremost, among them are food
\nand nutrition security, climate change, chronic non-communicable diseases and an ever
\nincreasing food import bill.<\/p>\n
Since the Institute\u2019s establishment on this day in 1974, CARDI has been contributing to the
\ndevelopment of a sustainable and productive regional agriculture sector. New and improved
\nvarieties, improved technologies, strengthened value chains and empowered stakeholders are
\namong some of the Institute\u2019s notable achievements.
\nIn this regard, I wish to launch today, CARDI\u2019s 45th Anniversary celebrations. Over the next year
\nthrough a series of activities across the Region CARDI will be highlighting the achievements of
\nour extensive research and development portfolio under the theme \u201cCelebrating 45 years \u2026from
\nresearch to impact.\u201d<\/p>\n
I wish to applaud the Board of Governors and Board of Directors for their steadfast support.
\nTo all staff \u2013 the people who work every day to build a better institute, thank you for your
\ncommitment and selfless service.<\/p>\n
On this momentous occasion I wish to reaffirm CARDI\u2019s commitment to improving lives through
\nagricultural research, across the region and beyond.
\nWe look forward to sharing the day with you and invite you to be part of our 45th Anniversary
\ncelebrations in 2020.<\/p>\n
Thank you!<\/p>\n
Barton A. Clarke
\nExecutive Director, CARDI
\n-ENDSAbout CARDI
\nCARDI (www.cardi.org) was established in 1974 to serve the agricultural research and
\ndevelopment needs of the Member States of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM). CARDI is
\npositioned to contribute to the sustainable development of the Caribbean by the co-generation,
\ndiffusion and application of knowledge, through agricultural research for development. The
\nInstitute\u2019s Headquarters is located at the University Campus, St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
From Right to Left Mr. Paul Lucas – CARDI Representative for Antigua and Barbuda, CARDI Representative for Montserrat; Mr. Wilstan Henry \u2013 General worker; Mr. Bradbury Browne \u2013 CARDI Technician; […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1060","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-notices"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/agriculture.gov.ag\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1060","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/agriculture.gov.ag\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/agriculture.gov.ag\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agriculture.gov.ag\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agriculture.gov.ag\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1060"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/agriculture.gov.ag\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1060\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1064,"href":"https:\/\/agriculture.gov.ag\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1060\/revisions\/1064"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/agriculture.gov.ag\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1060"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agriculture.gov.ag\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1060"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agriculture.gov.ag\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1060"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}