{"id":6497,"date":"2023-06-13T18:44:21","date_gmt":"2023-06-13T18:44:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/agriculture.gov.ag\/?p=6497"},"modified":"2023-06-13T18:49:27","modified_gmt":"2023-06-13T18:49:27","slug":"ministry-of-agriculture-and-iica-hosted-sps-workshop","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/agriculture.gov.ag\/index.php\/2023\/06\/13\/ministry-of-agriculture-and-iica-hosted-sps-workshop\/","title":{"rendered":"MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND IICA HOSTED SPS WORKSHOP"},"content":{"rendered":"

On 23rd<\/sup> May, 2023, St. John\u2019s<\/strong>, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Agriculture, Trade and Barbuda Affairs held a validation workshop for the perusal of a draft Agricultural Health and Food Safety Policy<\/em><\/strong> for Antigua and Barbuda<\/em><\/strong>; one output of an action funded by the European Union under a Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures Project, which is being coordinated and implemented by the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA). The draft document was developed by Policy Expert Consultant, Ms. Stacy Rose, following extensive stakeholder consultation.<\/p>\n

IICA\u2019s National Specialist for Antigua and Barbuda, Mr. Craig M. Thomas in his opening remarks highlighted that there is a need to strengthen our national Agricultural Health and Food Safety systems and domestic agricultural producers are unable to meet or comply with SPS standards for trade in agriculture. A strong AHFS policy for Antigua and Barbuda therefore is key for allowing producers the opportunity to benefit fully from trade opportunities in selective markets.<\/p>\n

Participating in this exercise were representatives from a vast range of stakeholders and partners.\u00a0 In the Opening Session, Mr. John Mussington, Chairman of the Agriculture Committee of the Barbuda Council said \u201cThis workshop is a very timely one, Barbuda has a rich biodiversity; presently there is no lethal yellowing, no red spider mite; however, it would only take one mistake for everything to disappear, hence the importance of what we are doing here today\u201d.\u00a0 He added that, unlike Antigua, Barbuda does not have a water problem but there is a water quality one and he reiterated the necessity for good standards and safety measures.<\/p>\n

Mr. Gregory Bailey, Director of Agriculture, supported Mussington\u2019s pronouncements and further inferred that whether we are importers, consumers, producers, or regulators there are obligations.\u00a0 \u201cWe all have responsible roles to play in National Food Security<\/em><\/strong> \u201c, said Bailey.<\/p>\n

Participants present at this forum were pleased when Antigua and Barbuda was complimented by Ms. Mariana Arias, Programme Manager, Delegation of the European Union to Barbados, the Eastern Caribbean States, the OECS and CARICOM\/CARIFORUM, for the dedication, commitment and hard work achieved thus far on this pilot project.\u00a0 These sentiments were endorsed by Dr. Janet Lawrence, Agricultural Health, Food Safety and Quality Specialist \u2013 Caribbean and the 11th<\/sup> EDF SPS Project Manager.\u00a0 Dr. Lawrence added that the drafting of the document was accomplished in a relatively short time and that she wanted to see the project reach its fruition and implemented in the various sectors.\u00a0 This was echoed by Dr. Gavin Peters, Chief Executive Officer \u2013 Caribbean Agricultural Health and Food Safety \u2013 who added that other countries can gain from lessons learnt and duplicate similar policies.<\/p>\n

In a pre-recorded message, Minister E. P. Chet Greene shared his gratitude to the EU for providing the funding, IICA, CARICOM, CARIFORUM and all the stakeholders for such an important project and noted its relevance and significance to Agricultural Health, Public Health, Food Safety and Food Security.\u00a0 Additionally, the Minister made reference to the 2018 outbreak of E. Coli<\/em><\/strong> and the mayhem that was caused across the United States. \u00a0\u201cContaminated food can significantly impact human health, causing illnesses ranging from mild gastrointestinal discomfort to serious and even life-threatening conditions.\u00a0 According to the World Health Organization (WHO), contaminated food is responsible for an estimated 600 million cases of foodborne illnesses and 420,000 deaths worldwide each year. Food can be contaminated due to a variety of factors, including bacteria, viruses, parasites, chemical contaminants, and toxins produced by microorganisms,\u201d said Minister Greene, \u201cImplementing a national policy on agricultural health and food safety will ensure that food produced in our twin island country is safe for consumption, meets the international requirements and crucial for sustainable development.\u201d\u00a0 Minister Greene assured that the government is in full support and he also pledged his full support and commitment for the project to all present. \u201cAs minister responsible for the Ministry of Agriculture and for national implementation of the WTO Agreement on Sanitary and Phytosanitary measures I will promote and support activities to educate and train our crop and livestock farmers, our fishers, our agro-processors and other stakeholders to increase their awareness and understanding of food safety and best practices\u201d, added Minister Greene.<\/p>\n

Potential impacts of the action are increased capacity for exports, increased trade and economic development, increased compliance with international obligations, improved market access and reduction in food safety related incidents.<\/p>\n

The Action on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures is one component of the 11th European Development Fund (EDF) Programme titled \u201cSupport to CARIFORUM States in furthering the implementation of their Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) commitments and in meaningfully reaping the benefits of the Agreement\u201d seeks to contribute to the integration of the Caribbean Forum of the ACP Group of States into the World Economy.<\/p>\n

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On 23rd May, 2023, St. John\u2019s, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Agriculture, Trade and Barbuda Affairs held a validation workshop for the perusal of a draft Agricultural Health and Food […]<\/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":[20,11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6497","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-iica","category-news-notices"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/agriculture.gov.ag\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6497","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=6497"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/agriculture.gov.ag\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6497\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6507,"href":"https:\/\/agriculture.gov.ag\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6497\/revisions\/6507"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/agriculture.gov.ag\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6497"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agriculture.gov.ag\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6497"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agriculture.gov.ag\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6497"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}