Cross cutting issues affecting the development and sustainability of the sector will be on the front burner for when another Agriculture Round Table (ART) Policy Forum meets in Roseau, Dominica during the 10th, Caribbean Week of Agriculture, from Oct 9-14.

Policy makers, media professionals, farmers, academics and other stakeholders in food and agriculture are expected to explore various perspectives on the theme, “Food and Nutrition Circles …Connecting the dots.”

Inter-American Institute for Corporation on Agriculture (IICA), Regional Policy Specialist Ms. Diana Francis explained, the ART was conceptualized in 2008 under the Caribbean Regional Agriculture Policy Network (CaRAPN), with specific objectives to engage stakeholders in open, unscripted, free-flowing conversations for more effective communication.

CaRAPN, Ms. Francis said, is still a “network-in progress?, as far as fostering and strengthening networking among stakeholders in agriculture policy in the region and between the Caribbean and other regions in the African Caribbean and Pacific (ACP).

CaRAPN has developed a track record in hosting regional multi-stakeholder forums and contributing policy research and documentation on agriculture in the region as a base to back-up its networking. “CaRAPN is working to strengthen its networking functions within and outside of the agricultural community in CARICOM. Placing efforts on networking is based on the premise and acknowledgement that agricultural policy networking is important in the Region. CaRAPN will consolidate and widen its central hub, establish firm links with existing public, private sector and non-governmental networks in the region and forge relations with similar networks in the African and Pacific regions,” She disclosed. In fact, at the 2008 and 2010 ARTs, CaRAPN hosted representatives from its South African sister network -FANRPAN - the Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources Policy Analysis Network. FANRPAN will also be represented at ART-Dominica.

To this end, the ART has examined issues relating to growing Green and Clean, Innovation and Agri-business, Planning vs. Retrofitting Agriculture, Succession Planning, Trade Policy and Re –Branding of Extension services to meet the challenges of the 21st Century in its July event in St. Lucia earlier this year.

This ART-Dominica CWA will provide another opportunity to promote and discuss the Regional Food and Nutrition Security Policy (RFNSP), which has generated much debate in various spheres in CARICOM. Emphasis will be placed on contextualizing discussion on the RFNSP Action Plan, and its implication for the region. The half-day Policy Forum, which is a new addition to the ART format, will be dedicated to and disseminate information and enhance awareness of the RFNSP and Action Plan 2011-2025.

Following the Policy Forum, a number of Round Table, characteristic of the ART, will focus on issues related to:

· Tackling Utilization, Nutritional Adequacy and Access

· Tackling Availability and Stability

· Innovating Extension for FNP (Food and Nutrition Policy) implementation

· Strengthening Communication & Knowledge for FNS

· Information on Global and Regional FNS initiatives

Ms. Francis is optimistic that the discussion generated at the ART is critical towards enhancing understanding of the individual components of the FNS concept and underscore their critical, unbreakable and mutually reinforcing inter-connections.

She said it will also seek, “to portray the FNS challenges as a continuous cycle, one affected by a number of factors, several of which are outside the scope of agriculture, proper, and one which is extremely dynamic, evolving as food preferences change, and food and nutrition science and research results reveal new information and products.

ART is conceptualised and spearheaded by CaRPAN members, and is supported by the IICA, The Technical Centre for Agriculture and Rural Corporation (CTA), the Association of Caribbean media and Caribbean Agricultural Research and Development Institute (CARDI). CaRAPN welcomes the collaboration of the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) and the CARICOM Secretariat at this ART-Dominica 2011 and looks forward to widening the net, working to fill the policy gaps in the region.