Women and children to benefit from SAC project

WOMEN AND children are the primary target beneficiaries of a five-year Sustainable Agriculture in the Caribbean (SAC) project which is being launched simultaneously in four other Caribbean territories – Dominica, Guyana, Saint Lucia, and Suriname – and is being implemented by the World University Service of Canada (WUSC), a Canadian non-profit organisation. It is funded by the Government of Canada through Global Affairs Canada, at a cost of CDN$20 million.

During Thursday’s virtual launch, deputy director of WUSC, Munish Persaud, explained that promoting climate resilience agriculture to achieve equitable economic growth is integral to the success of the programme which will be engaging up to 25 agricultural markets across the five countries. It will seek to reach up to 48,000 people directly, including 12,000 farmers of which it is projected that 75 per cent will be women and youth.

“The thing that we really want to put emphasis on is that, whatever services we are provided, whatever services are accessed by the women and youth, should be based on their agency and the extent to which they inform the strategies that they will be using.

“We are talking about market systems that are sustainable because, in the face of climate variability, we recognise that sustainability can be challenged and we need to ensure that the market systems that we work have the capacity to withstand shocks and stress and they have the resilience to bounce back, even in the face of these events,” Persaud said.

He went on to explain that the implementation methodology would evolve around a market inclusivity systems approach, which would mean working with multi-stakeholders simultaneously.

Meanwhile, Canada’s High Commissioner to Jamaica, Emina Tudakovic, reminded her audience that the cornerstone of Canada’s development engagement in the Caribbean is to achieve the 17 Sustainable Development Goals set out by the United Nations, of which number two is to end hunger, achieve food security, improve nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture.

Mileposts along the route include supporting sustainable agriculture, empowering small farmers, promoting gender equality, ending rural poverty, ensuring health lifestyles and tackling climate change.

“For Canada, i mplementing this agenda has led to focus on priorities such as vulnerability to natural disasters, lack of access to long-term financing, and (the) need to diversify economies.”

Gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls are also top priority agenda items for the North American country.

Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries Audley Shaw, who declared the project officially launched, welcomed the partnership declaring that it would strengthen domestic efforts to combat climate hazards. Given the susceptibility of the agriculture sector to natural disasters, he promised to use the opportunity to push for more investments in technology that would greater yields from smaller acreages of land.