The Inter-American Institute for Co-operation on Agriculture (IICA) in T&T recently honoured three outstanding families for their contribution to agricultural innovation.The honourees were Ramgopaul Roop, Kent Vieira and Chemraj and Sita Ramsaroop who were presented with Certificates of Excellence by IICA Technological Innovation Specialist Dr Humberto Gomez, Gregg Rawlins, IICA Representative in T&T and Myrna Thompson, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Food Production.
Also attending the function on March 13 at the Nelson Mandela Hall, Centre of Excellence, Macoya, were several agricultural stakeholders, presidents of farmer groups and heads of diplomatic missions in T&T. All participants took part in the recently held Regional Fund for Agricultural Technology (Fontagro) contest on family farming entitled "Competition of Success of cases of Innovation for family agriculture 2012". The Fontagro fund is an alliance of the Latin American and Caribbean countries that support research and innovation in agriculture with the overall objective of reducing poverty, promoting competitiveness and sustaining natural resources.
The fund is sponsored by IICA and the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) with a focus in the area of innovation as a framework for action, strengthened results and impacts and most important the dissemination of knowledge. Awardee Roop presented his case in the area of "Integrated system to rehabilitate degraded heavy clay acidic soils for horticultural production based on the management of pests, diseases, soil and water with minimum external inputs in an economically sound and environmentally friendly manner."
Vieira submitted his case on "An integrated horticulture and tilapia production system running on fish feed as the sole input with no waste generated." Freeport family farmers Chemraj and Sita Ramsaroop with their case "Development of remarkable equipment and managerial style of an agricultural family in T&T" demonstrated how family farming can be successful through their ability to innovate, using scrap iron and other materials to design implements and modify their existing machinery to successfully cultivate and harvest root crops and vegetables.Dr Gomez indicated that the Ramsaroops, out of 112 cases, were the only family farmers to receive a special mention because of their ability to combine engineering and management in spite of a lack of formal education, producing designs that met the needs of small production units.
IICA Representative Rawlins reminded attendees that family agriculture plays an important role in contributing to food security at the individual, household and national levels, notwithstanding the small size of many of these farms which have adopted innovative approaches to production and marketing.He noted that notwithstanding the challenges which face the many small producers in Latin America and the Caribbean regions, many small farmers continue to adapt and implement new technologies in agriculture and their efforts have given rise to several success stories.
Sita Ramsaroop, delivering remarks on behalf of her fourth generation family in agriculture said after having experienced the evolution of their trade from the use of bison cart to wheel tractor, they have developed their own equipment from scrap materials, modifying standard equipment to suit their specific needs just to overcome the high costs of machinery.Ramsaroop, in an emotional voice said her family had approached mechanisation and innovation as a means of survival at a time where most farmers were taking their children out of agriculture to pursue academic careers they have managed to advance using innovative techniques and will continue to do so.
Permanent Secretary Thompson in her feature address noted that more initiatives and support of such innovators and pioneers are required in the agricultural sector in T&T.She reaffirmed the ministry's commitment to work with the various local, regional and international organisations to continue to promote and encourage innovation and creativity in the agriculture and agribusiness sectors to realise our goal of a food secure nation.The Fontagro contest documented successful experiences and lessons learnt contributing to a better understanding of the innovation process in family agriculture in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) and raising greater awareness about the importance to invest in agriculture.IICA Technological Innovation Specialist, Dr Gomez and IICA T&T Policy Analyst and Planning Specialist, Edric Harry provided technical support to all three participants in preparing their cases.