Bharrat Jagdeo, president of Guyana and portfolio head for Caricom agriculture. - File

Guyana's president, Bharrat Jagdeo, is to hold a meeting with regional financiers to help spur development in the agriculture sector, that country's minister of agriculture, Robert Persaud, said on the weekend.

This is one of the key decisions of the just-concluded two-day regional forum on agriculture, held in Georgetown, June 6-7, and chaired by James Moss-Solomon, head of the Regional Task Force on Agriculture.

Persaud offered no details on the proposed meeting between Jagdeo, who has the lead responsibility for agriculture in the Caribbean Community's (CARICOM) quasi-Cabinet, nor the targeted financiers, but signalled that there was an expectation of buy-in, given, he said, "a greater awareness among the private sector to invest in agriculture so that the region could achieve a comfortable level of food security".

Serious about agriculture

It is this rising awareness, Persaud said, that has motivated Jagdeo to schedule a meeting with bankers and other key financial officials to back activities in agriculture to help make the region less vulnerable to price spikes for food and fuel on the global market.

Persaud said regional investors left the two-day forum "more convinced to invest in agriculture".

But even before the conference, there were such signs. In Jamaica, for example, the Jamaica Broilers Group and another unnamed investor have signalled a willingness to put money into rice production, under a plan that will see government putting up some 5,000 to 6,000 acres of land.

The Caribbean's food import bill is reportedly at about US$3 billion annually, and expected to climb in the face of rising commodities worldwide, if the Caribbean fails to act.

The answer, CARICOM governments believe, lies in building out new and significantly large farms to become more self-reliant.

"I hope the forum brings to light its (agriculture's) profitability among regional entrepreneurs," said Moss-Solomon, a Jamaican and retired executive of GraceKennedy Limited.

Maximise potential

He reiterated the need for regional decision-makers to help minimise risks in the agriculture sector to induce financiers to back programmes business officials want to pursue.

He also called on the region to reject the outmoded thinking that the onus is solely on governments to ensure the agriculture sector maximises its vast potential.