Come July next year, one of the region’s major agricultural conferences will be hosted on these shores – the 47th meeting of the Caribbean Food Crops Society (CFCS).
The conference, which will run from July 3 to 9, 2011 at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre, will bring together scientists, technicians, planners and stakeholders among others, to discuss pertinent issues related to the agricultural and fisheries sectors.
The theme of next year’s meeting will be "Assuring Caribbean Food and Nutrition Security in the context of Climate Change". The sub-theme is "Productive Agrosystems and Resources Conservation in an island environment: An Ecological Challenge for Caribbean Sustainable Development."?? Some 150 delegates are expected in Barbados for the week-long event which is being coordinated by the Government of Barbados, through the Ministry of Agriculture, Food, Fisheries, Industry and Small Business Development.
The Caribbean Food Crops Society, an independent professional organisation, was established in San Juan, Puerto Rico on May 3, 1963. Its primary focus is to advance and foster Caribbean food production, processing and distribution, so as to help improve the quantity of life for the people of the region.
The CFCS is a non-profit organisation, which fosters communication between persons capable of contributing to the development of science, technology, and the production of food crops, and animals in the countries of the Caribbean Basin.
In addition, the body seeks to bring together scholars, researchers, extensionists, growers, and other professionals associated with food production, distribution and policy.
It has more than 300 members, with 23 representatives from across the English, Spanish, French and Dutch Caribbean.
Each year, the Society convenes an annual general meeting in various countries and territories throughout the region, focusing on areas most relevant to that particular country. The meetings are an opportunity for science researchers, farmers and the like to exchange information on research and technology. ??The session are made up of two parts, the technical and the annual business sessions.
Barbados has hosted the CFCS meetings on four different occasions; 1965, 1973, 1982 and 1995. The first annual general meeting was held in St. Croix on October 9, 1963, and was addressed by former Premier of Barbados and the late Prime Minister, the Right Excellent Errol Walton Barrow.
This year’s CFCS meeting was held in Boca Chica, Dominican Republic from July 11 to 18, under the theme "Protected Agriculture: A Technological Option?? for the Competitiveness of the Caribbean?"
Further information on the Caribbean Food Crops Society may be obtained by visiting the website http://www.cfcs2011barbados.org/.??