March 2012


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UWI agriculture in Nairobi

By David Dolly

The Department of Agricultural Economics and Extension (DAEE) of the Faculty of Science and Agriculture was a partner in a recent extension conference in Nairobi, Kenya. Hosted by the Technical Centre for Agriculture and Rural Cooperation (CTA) with headquarters in the Netherlands and 17 organisers and partners from throughout the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries, there were presenters from over 37 countries.

From the Caribbean there was representation from Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Jamaica, St Vincent and the Grenadines, St Lucia and Trinidad and Tobago. An additional pre event was organised by another major contributing agency, the newly formed Global Forum for Rural Advisory Services (GFRAS). GFRAS has its headquarters in Switzerland and plans to be a major advocate for rural extension and advisory services for small farmers. This pre event mobilised regional networks for localised action. The DAEE will spearhead a Caribbean regional network alongside its Latin American counterparts.

The Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA) of Jamaica was singled out as a remarkable and unique model for extension work. It became a central case study for discussion at the conference. From Antigua and Barbuda options for extension work in agri tourism was discussed. The role of extension in the small ruminant industry in Barbados ably displayed the link between research approaches of the Caribbean Agricultural Research and Development Institute (CARDI) and farmers. There was a presentation which reflected on lessons learnt from the Caribbean Agricultural Extension Project (CAEP). Another presentation featured the extension needs to meet fair-trade marketing in the banana industry of the Windward Islands. The area of marketing extension was featured in a comparative analysis of farmers’ perspectives of extension services offered by the National Agricultural and Marketing Developing Corporation (Namdevco) in Trinidad and Tobago and those of the Ministry of Food Production, Land and Marine Resources. One poster presentation featured an extension model which could be used in the new domain of neo tropical animal husbandry in Trinidad and Tobago.

A Caribbean booth featured key elements of agriculture and agricultural extension within the region. Its theme was “UWI: We are the Caribbean” The booth distributed many leaflets, fact sheets and tokens from countries represented. The both promoted the degree offerings from UWI. The booth hosted numerous enquiries about the region’s operations in agriculture and agricultural extension.

The conference website is http://extensionconference2011.cta.int.

David Dolly is at the Department of Agricultural Economics and Extension, and is a Member of the International Steering Committee.