{"id":4753,"date":"2022-11-30T22:56:18","date_gmt":"2022-11-30T22:56:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/agriculture.gov.ag\/?p=4753"},"modified":"2022-11-30T23:53:06","modified_gmt":"2022-11-30T23:53:06","slug":"fao-participates-in-caricom-energy-month","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/agriculture.gov.ag\/index.php\/2022\/11\/30\/fao-participates-in-caricom-energy-month\/","title":{"rendered":"FAO PARTICIPATES IN CARICOM ENERGY MONTH"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in collaboration with the Department of Energy within the Ministry of Public Utilities, Civil Aviation and Energy participated in an awareness campaign on \u201cEnergy Consumption and encouraged Energy Saving Actions<\/em><\/strong>\u201d held in the CARICOM Region during the month of November. \u00a0However, for Antigua and Barbuda the awareness was based on Energy Conservation, affordable Food Production and FAO\u2019s Nexus Project.<\/p>\n

A Sensitization Talk on Renewable Energy in Agriculture was held on Monday the 28th\u00a0of November at the Department of the Environment. During this meeting some challenges were highlighted pertaining to Energy Security in the agricultural sector. Mali Barnes, National Project Coordinator for the FAO Nexus Project, illustrated some practical and technological solutions that could mitigate some of these challenges. The main component of the Nexus Project is Water harvested or produced as inexpensively as possible to support Agriculture more so Food Production.<\/p>\n

In his presentation \u2018The Water-Energy Food Nexus and Agriculture\u2019<\/strong>, Barnes outlined what were Food Security, Water Security, Energy Security and their importance for our very existence.\u00a0 Additionally, he demonstrated how farmers, government, FAO and other stakeholders are to be proactively involved in this quest. \u00a0\u201cKnowing and seeing how this project works and its benefits, I am surprised that it wasn\u2019t implemented before now,\u201d said Barnes.<\/p>\n

The second presenter was Ita Jah Simmons, a mechanical engineer in the Department of Energy, at this forum he wore two hats because he is also a farmer.\u00a0 Simmons being both a technician and a food producer effectively and efficiently shared his experience and information from both sides.<\/p>\n

His presentation was focused on RE and Agriculture, <\/strong>why it is a hot ongoing discussion in regards to emission, food security and energy. Additionally, he referred to areas in Agriculture that are energy intensive such as Fertilizer production, cold storage and transportation. \u00a0Although, it was very apparent that he felt and shared the pros of RE which is indeed the way forward he also acknowledged the cons which were the high initial cost of investment, threats of natural disaster, high insurance premiums and theft.<\/p>\n

The Final Presenter was Daryl Jackson, an energy expert and he reiterated the importance of Renewable energy as a resource especially in Agriculture for now and beyond.\u00a0 In his address, he outlined several crucial and pertinent information pertaining to the lengthy processing and astronomical cost of fossil fuel production compared to that of Renewable energy production. Additionally, he advocated that before investing in Renewable Energy Technology (RE) there are several key decisions to be considered such as the problem that needs to be solved, which will be most suitable for the need and the ability to afford the cost of the choice made.\u00a0 Further, he suggested that making the correct selection of RE is paramount for optimal production. \u201cSome of the RE technologies that could be considered for use in Antigua and Barbuda are Solar Electricity or Thermal Energy, Wind Electrical or Mechanical Energy, Bio Energy and Battery Energy Storage\u201d Jackson announced. His presentation was concluded with a quote by Buckminster Fuller (an American architect, System theorist, writer, designer, inventor, philosopher and futurist) \u201cThe Best Way to Predict the Future is to Design it\u201d.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Considering that it was the first workshop of its kind, \u2018The Renewable Energy in Agriculture Sensitization Talk\u2019, I thought it went really well.\u00a0 The engagement between the farmers, the extension officers and other stakeholders was very good and everybody learnt something, including the presenters and me. I\u2019m looking forward to the next session which will be the training schedule to commence in early 2023 and I consider the event was a success,\u201d Barnes said.<\/p>\n

The populace of this forum consisted of representatives from the Ministry of Agriculture, UNDP, GEF SGP- UNDP, UNRCO, Department of Environment, Ministry of Tourism, UNICEF, Agricultural Extension Division, Farmers, and other stakeholders.<\/p>\n

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  The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in collaboration with the Department of Energy within the Ministry of Public Utilities, Civil Aviation and Energy participated in an awareness campaign on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4753","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fao","category-news-notices"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/agriculture.gov.ag\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4753","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\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agriculture.gov.ag\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4753"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/agriculture.gov.ag\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4753\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4780,"href":"https:\/\/agriculture.gov.ag\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4753\/revisions\/4780"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/agriculture.gov.ag\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4753"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agriculture.gov.ag\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4753"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agriculture.gov.ag\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4753"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}