November 2015


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Over the years in the Caribbean, we have seen a declining interest in the profession of agriculture, especially by our youths; we have a severe dependency on imported foods; we also have an ageing population of farmers and poor rural infrastructure. We are also witnessing the effect of climate change, across the world, and its destructive effects on human lives, infrastructure and particularly, rural infrastructure and agricultural production. The ravages of floods and droughts on our livestock production are to say the least, traumatic, and cause consequential increases in food prices for consumers. In this context, it is important for us to become creative and innovative and to work together through partnerships so as to cultivate a regional passion for producing more of what we are consuming: tropical agricultural products of quality and distinction, some of which we may also export and create new wealth. We need to develop an agricultural sector that our young people will want to be a part of, and apply their technological savvy to agriculture, food production and food processing.

This Park in our 200-acre parcel at Orange Grove will showcase advanced intensive agricultural production practices, using technologies and best practices from China and our indigenous knowledge. We will be utilizing technology, biotechnology, mechanization, new varieties and climate-smart intensive agricultural production systems, which I am hoping will apply to all our small island developing states. And we all know that there are many lessons which we in the Caribbean region can learn from China’s experience. In fact, China’s advancement in agriculture and its ability to feed itself, moving from famine to food security in about 40 years has been phenomenal and inspirational. We hope that as we adopt international best practices in farming and food production techniques, this Park will eventually serve as a development model for Caribbean agriculture.

What we are launching today is just the beginning of Phase One of this project. This Innovation Park concept represents an ambitious vision of putting agriculture in a wider agri-business model so as to enhance its commercial and financial attractiveness and appeal. As they say “from fork to farm” – agriculture production, processing, marketing, food preparation and restaurants, agri-recreation, tourism, entertainment, etc. So we are going to use this Campus for seven proposed areas: (1) the Crop Area; (2) the Technology Service Area; (3) the Horticulture Area; (4) the Aquatic Production Area; (5) the Mini Zoo; (6) the Leisure & Recreation Area, and (7) the Commercial Area.

To this end, this Agricultural Innovation Park will not only provide an avenue for cutting edge research and innovation in food production and agriculture, but it will also provide opportunities for leisure, commercial activity, and financial self-sustainability. Looking at agriculture as planting the land only will not suffice. Agriculture needs an enabling environment for it to be attractive and thrive. Intensive agriculture production in this setting we are opening today, in an attractive environment is therefore a great beginning. But agriculture must also be linked and central to our food production and consumption system – “eat what we grow, and grow what we eat.” We hope that this Park, highly visible and accessible, will inspire young people, especially entrepreneurs; educate our current farmers; engage our researchers and teachers; and push our policy makers to support decisive steps in transforming our agriculture sectors as a matter of urgency.

The partnership between The UWI St. Augustine Campus and China Agricultural University (CAU) began officially on June 1, 2013, when we had a distinguished visit from Madam Xu Lin, the Director General of Hanban who recommended CAU, as our official partner university in setting up our Confucius Institute. Incidentally, a few days later I was invited to make a presentation on “The State of Agriculture in the Caribbean Region” at the 4th Global Forum of Leaders for Agricultural Science and Technology (GLAST) in Beijing, China. I took the opportunity to visit the China Agricultural University (CAU), and met its vibrant and determined President, Professor KE Bingsheng. Our meeting was very fruitful, as both our universities expressed a desire to partner, particularly in the area of agriculture. Just three months later in September 2013, a technical team from their university made a reciprocal visit to our Campus and worked alongside a team led by our Dean of the Faculty of Food and Agriculture, Dr. Isaac Bekele from St. Augustine to prepare the Master Plan for our Agricultural Innovation Park at Orange Grove. Since then, we have worked steadily, culminating with today’s launch of Phase One. I extend sincere thanks to our partners from China, including the Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China to Trinidad and Tobago, His Excellency Huang Xingyuan, our colleagues from the China Agricultural University, led today by its Chairman, Professor Jiang Peimin, and the Government of the People’s Republic of China, including the Minister of Agriculture, who unfortunately could not be here. I also extend thanks to my own colleagues from The UWI St. Augustine Campus who have been instrumental to the success of this project (including the land works): Dean Dr. Isaac Bekele and the entire team from the Faculty of Food and Agriculture, including Deputy Dean Govind Seepersad and those from the University Field Station. I must also commend Mr. Suresh Maharaj, Director of our Facilities Management Division and his team for lending their full and enthusiastic support to this project, Mr. Sharan Singh of the Office of Institutional Advancement and Internationalization for his negotiating skills and Professor Jane Hu of the Confucius Institute of the St. Augustine Campus for building the bridges between St. Augustine and Beijing.