Significant Achievements 2020
• With funds obtained through the Australian Direct • The Institute provided technical support to the Ministry Aid Programme (DAP) and technical support from the of Agriculture, through a partnership with Digicel, a tele- Ministry of Agriculture and the Caribbean Agricultural communications network, to increase market promotion Research and Development Institute (CARDI), under and opportunities for twenty-six backyard gardeners, the project, “Developing Sustainable Protein Sources through their participation in the first National Backyard for Community Nutrition Resilience in Antigua”, the Gardening Competition. Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agricul- ture (IICA) coordinated the installation of four one-acre • In support of innovation and extension services for sus- forage demonstration plots. Five drought-tolerant for- tainable production and food security, IICA facilitated age species were established to support the local small the development of the AgriExtAPP, which is intended ruminant producer group. to enhance information and communication exchange between farmers, extension workers, and other stake- • Additional funding from the DAP allowed IICA to holders in the region’s agriculture and innovation enhance the knowledge and build the capacities of systems. The assistance included strengthening the thirty-three young people, small ruminant producers capacities of all stakeholders, through a survey and and technicians, through a virtual session on the produc- sensitization and capacity building workshop, while tion and management of forage species. also enhancing visibility and communication efforts prior to the launch of the app. The app is currently • IICA assisted in coordinating a series of virtual being piloted in Antigua & Barbuda, The Bahamas and sensitization and capacity building training sessions St. Vincent & the Grenadines. with key stakeholders, funded under the Caribbean Biodiversity Fund (CBF) regional project, “Strength- • IICA played a pivotal role in facilitating a virtual ening Coastal and Marine Climate Resilience through discussion with the Minister of Agriculture of Belize, Community Engagement and Ecosystem-based Adapta- and the Minister of Agriculture of Antigua & Barbu- tion Solutions”. The project, which is a collaborative effort da, regarding the conceptualization of a horizontal between IAMovement, the University of Florida (UF), cooperation activity between both countries for the the University of the West Indies (UWI), local CBOs and development of a livestock sector traceability system NGOs, as well as the Ministry of Agriculture, is current- for Antigua and Barbuda. ly being implemented in Antigua & Barbuda, Dominica, St. Lucia, and Trinidad & Tobago. The project is managed • The Institute coordinated a series of virtual meetings with by the IICA Delegation in Trinidad and Tobago, with key public/private partners and stakeholders, including assistance from IICA’s Climate Change program. ministers of government, focusing on the negative im- pact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the protocols and • With resources from its Special COVID-19 Fund for solutions which should be implemented to support the the Caribbean Region, IICA, in collaboration with the Institute’s technical cooperation model. Ministry of Agriculture, provided agricultural inputs and supplies to assist in boosting the production of • Through a Rapid Response Action and at the request of twenty-six small-scale farmers, whose livelihood had the Ministry of Agriculture, the Institute collaborated been impacted by the novel Coronavirus. In addition, with the Ministry’s Statistics, Research and IT Unit to beneficiaries participated in a production capacity conduct a survey study report on the Social and Eco- building workshop to strengthen their knowledge and nomic Dimensions of the Giant African Snail (GAS) in skills in efficient vegetable production management. Antigua. The GAS—considered to be one of the most damaging land snails—was first reported in Antigua in • More specifically, 24% of schools and livestock farms 2008. Since then, it has spread to almost all parishes in have been affected. the country, with reports of significant economic and • Crop farms and hotels follow closely, at 23% and 20% social impacts. Yet, to date, there has been no structured respectively. investigation to substantiate these claims. As such, the • Just over 10% of homes have been affected. study assessed the nature and extent of the problem, with a specific focus on the social and economic im- Further, the costs associated with the management of pacts. the snail include costs for bait, labour, land clearing, loss of income, depreciation and medical bills. Stratified The findings indicate that: Random Sampling (SRS) was used to collect data from 202 stakeholders between November 2019 and June 2020, • Over 15% of the stakeholders have been affected by which consisted of representatives of homes, schools, ho- the GAS. tels, crop farms, livestock farms and input suppliers.