Caribbean

Promoting agritourism in Barbados

Like many Caribbean nations, Barbados faces two distinct crises. On the one hand, the island now imports almost 90% of the food consumed. On the other, levels of obesity and associated diseases have risen, largely because people are eating processed products and calorie-dense foods, most of which are imported. Agritourism, which links farmers and agribusinesses to the tourist market, could play a significant role in tackling both these problems and CTA is working closely with local partners to encourage the growth of the local food market.

All Eyes on the Sky

Smallholders in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific are seeing their horizons broaden, as access to technology brings digital applications to agriculture. In Uganda, a project supported by the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA), has forged a partnership with Igara Tea Factory (IGTF) to transform cultivation through digital innovation.

Project increases Ugandan smallholder yields and incomes by 70%

Kampala, Uganda February 13. Leveraging big data, a CTA-led project has significantly increased crop yields and incomes for thousands of Ugandan smallholder farmers.

20,000 Ethiopian Smallholders Targeted with Climate Smart Technology

CTA together with Farm Africa has launched a new project to promote the resilience of smallholder farmers against climate change in Ethiopia’s Southern Nations Nationalities and Peoples’ Region (SNNPR). The launch is the third and final of a CTA initiative that supports the scaling of proven climate smart agriculture technologies in Jamaica, Mali and now Ethiopia.

New index to tackle food safety scourge and threat to African health and trade

Dakar, Senegal, October 2. The African Food Safety Index (AFSI) launched today will help to tackle the burden of foodborne diseases that a recent global assessment found to be comparable to that of malaria, HIV/AIDs or tuberculosis.

New report highlights promising signs of export diversification in African agricultural trade

KIGALI, 6 September 2018 – A new report highlights the role agricultural trade plays in Africa and draws out important policy measures that African governments will need to take to benefit fully from intra-African trade as well as global trade in agricultural products.

Breadtrail: from farm to fork

by Darien Jardine , Nirvan Sharma and Reshawn Ramjattan

BreadTrail, an app created by Darien Jardine, Nirvan Sharma and Reshawn Ramjattan, makes introducing reliable and incorruptible traceability to the supply chain secure and scalable while providing benefits to everyone involved from farmer to customer.

Boosting data innovations and entrepreneurship

Innovators, programmers, and application developers are at the forefront of a movement that combines big data, open data, and the internet of things to create new marketable products and services for the agricultural sector. Events, like hackathons, pitching and networking gatherings, are important for these young innovators to improve and exchange ideas, get technological advice, connect to investors and marketers.

Home-grown ICT solutions in agriculture come from young entrepreneurs

by Ken Lohento and Heike Baumüller

Young innovators in Africa, the Caribbean, and Pacific region, have recognised the need for creative solutions to raise agricultural productivity and the huge prospective market for their ICT-enabled services in agriculture. Although they still face many challenges, their products have the potential to transform agricultural value chains in developing countries.

They did not believe that a 15 years old student could advance with the app

by Nicholai Rajkumar

Seventeen years old Nicholai Rajkumar is a student of St. George’s College in Trinidad and Tobago. He is pursuing studies toward a career in IT. Nicholai at age 15, completed a Microsoft course in App Development, which aided his participation in the Caribbean AgriHack Talent Competition in 2014.

The KJWA puts agriculture centre stage in climate negotiations

by George Wamukoya

Wild turmeric turns a trade in Belize

by Natalie Dookie

In Toledo district, farmers are earning three times the going rate for their turmeric by supplying a local processing company to produce the world’s first ‘wildcrafted’ whole root turmeric paste.

It is essential to work with indigenous people on climate change adaptation

by Vincent Defait

Ahead of COP24, taking place in Poland between 3–14 December, Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim, co-chair of the International Indigenous Peoples’ Forum on Climate Change, explains why indigenous knowledge must be taken into consideration.

Climate-smart agri-finance: A more resilient approach

As climate change poses fresh challenges to farmers across ACP countries, donors, development banks and private lenders are developing innovative blended finance and risk-sharing solutions.

Economic Impacts of Climate Change on Priority Value Chains in the Caribbean

by Kevon Rhiney and Oluyede Ajayi

To support the implementation of CTA’s flagship project for the Caribbean, this report is aimed at developing capacity-building efforts for specific groups of farmers engaging in specific production activities in priority value chains so they may improve their access to key markets.