News

The World Bank has agreed to provide US$21 million to help Guyana  increase secondary school enrolment and improve mathematics teaching as well as well as reduce flooding on the East Coast Demerara, the Finance Ministry said Saturday. The agreement signed in Washington this week by Minister Singh with Sophie Sirtaine, Director of the Caribbean Country Management Unit of the World ...

Jamaica’s Agriculture Minister, Derrick Kellier on Friday believed that privatization is the key to a successful sugar industry, drawing on the lessons of his country that has sold out the fields and factories to Chinese investors. Kellier, who was in Suriname for the 13th Caribbean Week of Agriculture (CWA) and the Agriculture Ministerial meeting of the Caribbean Community’s (Caricom) Council ...

 The new boss of the cash-strapped Caribbean Agricultural Research Development Institute (CARDI) is Barbadian, Barton Clarke. Outgoing Executive Director, Dr. Arlington Chesney made the announcement on the sidelines of the 13th Caribbean Week of Agriculture (CWA 2014) that wrapped up in Suriname on Friday. Clarke’s appointment was ratified by the Board of Governors of CARDI that also met in this ...

The Food and Agriculture Organisation’s (FAO) Caribbean Coordinator, Dr. John “Deep” Forde has urged international organizations to coordinate their assistance to Haiti whose agricultural sector is showing good prospects. His call was issued at a symposium-“Haiti’s Agri food systems and Building Regional Synergies”– at the 13th Caribbean Week of Agriculture (CWA 2014) that wrapped up in Paramaribo, Suriname on Friday. ...

And the winner is… Node420, from Jamaica. The team’s ICT application, also called Node420, offers real-time weather analysis and automatic yield forecasts for farmers. The AgriHack Talent Caribbean contest, organised by CTA and partners, came to a close during the 13th Caribbean Week of Agriculture, held this week in Paramaribo, Suriname. The winning teams designed agricultural apps that can forecast ...

Guyana’s National Agricultural, Research and Extension Institute (NAREI) will be joining hands with the Centre for Agricultural Research in Suriname (CELOS) to fight the Black Sigatoka disease that has already taken its toll on banana and plantain cultivations across the Caribbean, officials said Friday. NAREI’s involvement would be done through the Caribbean Agricultural Research Development Institute (CARDI) which signed a ...

PARAMARIBO, Suriname, Oct 9 — The head of a regional network of small farmers has expressed disappointment with the region’s response to the International Year of Family Farming. The United Nations has declared 2014 the International Year of Family Farming, in an effort to highlight the potential family farmers have to eradicate hunger, preserve natural resources and promote sustainable development. ...

by Kenton Chance PARAMARIBO, Suriname — Executive Director of the Caribbean Agricultural Research Institute (CARDI), Dr. Arlington Chesney has confirmed that he will leave the institute by the end of this year. “I think I should leave. When I joined CARDI, I said I would come for three years, and it [has been] seven years. As most of you know, ...

by Kenton Chance PARAMARIBO, Suriname, Oct. 9, — The main financier of Caribbean Week of Agriculture (CWA), the region’s premier agricultural event, says its plans for interventions in the Caribbean during the coming years reaffirm its determination to help create agribusiness opportunities for farmers. Michael Hailu, director of the ACP/EU Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA) told the ...

Inter-regional cooperation for agricultural and rural development has moved a step closer with the announcement that the Pacific region is planning to hold a regional week of agriculture in 2015. The event has been inspired by the Caribbean Week of Agriculture (CWA), whose 13th edition is currently under way in Paramaribo, Suriname,  according to the minister of agriculture for Vanuatu, ...