Explore Official Dialogue Feedback

Blockchain technologies consume great deals of power and is not totally sustainable. Some participants felts there are other ways with lower carbon footprint to realize the same benefits of block chains.

Capacity building and skill development. Making Opportunities accessible to rural farmer women and youth There is need to include digital literacy in all education programmes for farmers Priority attention needs to be given to women, youth, ex prisoners, justice involved youth There is need to leverage technology to help make agriculture sexy ie appealing as a career option and viable coaching, mentorship and support are critical to the success of all initiatives to accelerate and scale the use of technology in agriculture ongoing Proving effective support beyond deployment of technology is cr... Read moreitical to learning and improvement of food systems Education needs to cover food safety, traceability, and the necessary components to assure literacy and proper use of technologies to improve practices at level of farm and communities Deployment in clusters (groups and network) is seen as one of the best ways to reduce cost of IOT and other technology deployment eg renewables servicing a community, commercial composting at community scale, bio digesters , drones to plant and monitor crops, water sensing technology monitoring water content and biodiversity of soil, Capacity building and skill development. Making Opportunities accessible to rural farmer women and youth, GPS tags tracking livestock location and health and so on There is need to revise currcula Read less

Improving Rural Connectivity Community Networks are seen as a critical strategy for improving rural connectivity Connectivity and internet access needs to be seen as a right and providers need to be encouraged to connect rural communities as a matter of principle. It is critical to improving food systems, education and the overall quality of life that issues in rural connectivity needs to be addressed It has been a real challenge for rural communities regionally to remain connected and conduct e commerce and other business with limited and constantly failing internet regionally Internet connec... Read moretivity, broadband and fiber should be a priority of government, private sector and local government regionally Partnerships can be an excellent vehicle for deploying greater access, community networks and free access finding ways to demonetize the internet through models of IAAS and SAAS should be evaluated and deployed A regional and national working groups should be created to examine and address the issues of rural connectivity. Technical members of ISACA, ISOC, ITU and ISO Technical committees could be drawn upon to support this initiative Flexible funding regimes should be developed and deployed to allow partner agencies to connect rural and vulnerable commutes as a critical requirement in enabling a just and equitable transition Free broadband nd and internet access should be provided to all rural schools, community centers, parks and other shared spaces as a means of increasing access and affordability. With all services and commerce being transitioned online connectivity can no longer be seen as a luxury but as the means by which people connect with services. To leave communities without access is to reduce the market and handicap the economic and social potential of countries and region as a whole Read less

Improving agriculture value chains by leveraging available and future technology. Possibilities for accelerating Caribbean progress there is a lot of room for IOT, sensors, GPS,, Drone, Analytic technologies, WIFI Cameras and other technology in the Caribbean Space Aquaponics, Vertical Hydroponic Farming (Indoor and Outdoor), bio digesters and others technologies have tremendous potential for improving Value chains Block Chain Technology can be a great tool for accelerating action throughout the food system value chain Smart factory, Industry 4.0 Traceability throughout the value chain is of c... Read moreritical importance. Providing support for farmers, processors and distributors could have significant benefits and impact in improving Caribbean competitiveness and resilience of its food system Partnerships across the value chain can make it easier to adopt technology and manage the transition process Read less

Financing the acceleration of Technology Adoption on Agriculture Scale should be leveraged to help reduced cost of technology that can benefit clusters and the entire sector Grant and donor programmes need to create flexible pathways to accessing financing Climate financing should also cater to the leveraging of sustainable technology or the alignment of traditional technologies to enhance climate smart and resilient approaches to technology There is need to help enhance the capabilities to apply for and mange grant and loan financing utilize to leverage technology Financing criteria should be... Read more aligned to and give support to producers and processors leveraging technology towards making their operations climate smart and resilient Insurance should provide reductions based on proper leveraging of climate adaptation and mitigation approaches and so on Read less

Navigating the agriculture and Technology Divide There is a critical need to address connectivity within rural communities, rural producers and processors Deployed more regional community networks Equity should underline the strategy and there needs to be greater access, improved energy, water and waste management efficiency There is need to place an emphasis on education/digital literacy/technology literacy and the ways can position technology to make better use of natural resources, conserve water and improve yields Partnerships across e government, civil society, private sector, and academi... Read morea are critical in navigating issues across the digital divide. Institutions like UTT, UWI, UWI Open Campus, ASTI and all the National Training Agencies need to work together in address green and technology skill gaps among food system providers Read less

Technology is an enabler but it is not the solution to the many challenges in agriculture and food systems As an enabler technology can enhance ability to collect, assess, disseminate, utilize information and data Aligning technology to support climate mitigation, adaptation and building community based social cohesion, equity and resilience is seen as the best use and means for acceleration technology use in food systems around the Caribbean Scaling Climate Finance and Improving access in areas that support greater energy efficiency, water efficiency, waste efficiency, processing effectivenes... Read mores and connectivity of rural and urban communities provide many opportunities to accelerate and scale actions on SDGs, Paris Agreement and Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction there is need to develop competencies, capabilities and capacity of farmers, processors and others in the food system to properly leverage technology. It was felt that shared platforms, leveraging social capital and clusters provides great avenues to reduce cost and realize benefits of wider deployment of technology It was felt that partnerships between agriculture organizations, trade facilitation and the Internet societies can go a long way in more expeditious deployment of community networks and addressing the digital divide in rural communities Coaching, mentorship, consultancy and capacity building can be critical enabling tools to support more efficient and effective uptake of technology in the food systems Leveraging technology to address issues of crime, security and monitoring the health of plants There is need to take a comprehensive view of risk. Risk from climate perspective, risk from community profile, risk by community, risk from specific and cascading risk there is need to leverage technology to improve data availability eg climate analytics, deploy share platforms and to safely and securely manage data in cyber space ie addressing cyber security issues and issues of accessibility, monitoring and tracking food waste There is need to leverage technology to support branding, marketing, advertising and promotion of food and agriculture as a viable career and business option for youth, women and vulnerable groups There is need for regional and at standards to support accelerating use of technology in agriculture Sustainable procurement can help shape the types of technology that is leveraged and brought to bear on agriculture There is also potential for drone technology and GPS technology in realizing climate smart and resilient agriculture practices A regional working group could be convened to help shape a regional strategy on the uptake of technology and champion the deployment of Community Networks regionally``` Utilize innovation Lan strategy to better connect innovators and food system participants Read less

This dialogue examined how players in the food system ecosystem can accelerate the adoption of the Internet of Things and Technology that support enhancing the sustainability, resilience and innovation of the food system ecosystem in the Caribbean. Participants also examined issues contributing to the digital divide and strategies that can be executed now to begin creating a more sustainable and resilient food system by 2930. After a short framing session the participants will be broken into five facilitated discussion groups, namely a. Navigating the agriculture and Technology Divide b. Finan... Read morecing the acceleration of Technology Adoption on Agriculture c Improving agriculture value chains by leveraging available and future technology. Possibilities for accelerating Caribbean progress d. Improving Rural Connectivity e. Capacity building and skill development. Making Opportunities accessible to rural farmer women and youth After the discussion groups, facilitators shall present summaries of the discussions in a plenary discussion. Read less

whether bio fertilizers are in fact better for the environment that synthetic. Whether all should be removed. The natural processes of nature were referenced

Circular Economy for Livestock Production Livestock “loss and waste” to “resources” Waste is almost an unavoidable material that is generated in every livestock production or processing operation. In agriculture, these wastes are usually categorized as byproducts, coproducts or residues. The major difference between the term “waste” and “resource”, is the way it is being utilized. A resource is understood as an input of some value and may fall under economic, ecological, biological or sociological categories. For example, resources from the livestock industry can include manure... Read more or urine which can simply be used as crop fertilizer and soil conditioners. Another resource can be obtained from skins, furs, feathers and offal from the carcass fabrication process. These can be used to make non-conventional feed resources for other livestock and lower the total feed cost. Other simple resources are refuse products such as egg shells, poultry litter, deceased animals and feed spillage are also used in biomass based production and used in biofuel production systems. Circular Economy for Livestock production in the Neo tropics A good example of a circular model can be seen in an integrated farming system using Neo tropical animals and crops. This model would be using tropical species of “animal wildlife” with the potential of domestication, such as the agouti (rodent), tilapia, black conch, cassava and breadfruit. The concept of this model is that the breadfruit will be the long term food crop investment and will cover the boundaries of the plot (wind break advantage). The additional purpose of this food tree is that it would provide shade and some housing conditions for the agouti. The overripe fruit droppings and flowers will also be a feed resource for the roaming agouti. The agouti is allowed to feed and forage through the land and spread the local seeds of the tropical fruit trees by the caching process. The cassava would be a main staple that can withstand harsh and arid tropical conditions. This medium term food crop will feed consumers in various forms all the way up to cassava flour. The food loss and wasted materials will also be fed to the agouti, tilapia and black conch. In the pond lies the water resource for the plot of land that keeps everything alive. It is complimented with azola and duckweed which is also a nonconventional feed resource for the agouti as well as keeps the water quality stabilized from excessive aquatic waste. The breadfruit and cassava staples also act as nonconventional feed resource pellets for the aquatic species. The manure of the agouti fertilizes the land with a variety of beneficial microbes to condition the soil and ensure its health. All resources on this plot can be harvested and utilized by humans for food including the creation of value added products, while each loss or waste from the simultaneous operations feed into each other, ensuring a closed nutrient loop system. Most importantly, the resources used to make this system are all sourced within the Neo tropical zone and rely on each other synergistically. Read less

Building sustainable agribusiness To make agro businesses even more competitive, resilient and sustainable there is need to integrate circularity from design and manage the interactions to draw the full benefits out of the system. Zero waste is the most economical, sustainable and competitive way forward From Growing , Harvesting and Production, Manufacturing, Packaging, Warehousing, transportation, Delivery and Consumption there is a need to make system circular in its design and manage the relationships to capture every opportunity to make more circular and profitable at the same time. Many ... Read moreopportunities reside in energy efficiency, water efficiency, waste management, sustainable packaging and managing the relationship consumers have with the products . The better we can engineer these relationship the better we can increase competitiveness by being circular. It was felt that we can no longer compete by throwing things always. The example was given of oranges for making orange juice, Pul is often waste, skin is wasted. However if in addition to juice pulp is used and fermented for vinegar and alcohol there is added value. If the skin and rhine is taken and extracted for rhine used for cosmetics there is an added value, By doing so there is increased competitiveness, less waste and several opportunities to improve quality, expand the market, create jobs and make food system more sustainable and resilient. Seeds can be dried and used to grow new trees which can be distributed to farmers, community or even integrated into orchids of the processing business. this was one of several examples used to emphasize the concept. Mango , Coconut, Sugarcane , Pumpkin and Sapodilla were other examples used. Making agriculture zero waste and renewable was a concept advocated by the group developing the standards and the quality infrastructure for circular economy principles to be accelerated and scaled in agriculture and food system is of critical importance to the achievement of a net zero society There is need to implement training and education programmes that promote and advance this concept of business. There is a need for increase levels of grant, concessionary finance and loans to support agri entrepreneurs to apply and scale these circular economy concepts. there is also a need to provide funding to support development of social enterprises, community based organizations, clusters and others who may be capitalizing and innovating in the waste stream in partnership with others in the value chain. regional and National incentives should help bromote both agri business development, agro processing and the widespread deployment of circular practices and principles including the incorporation of renewables/sustainable technologies aquaponics and vertical hydroponics provide a good example of applying the circular economy principles and concept into a business model. Wider application, integration into schools, community gardens and other projects with clusters can have significant impacts in making agribusiness viable and sustainable Local, regional and International Funding and support should also cater to and provide access to resources to pay for mentorship, consultancy, coaching in marketing, quality assurance, food safety, food safety planning, climate smart and resilient practices, implementing circular economy principles and practices, HACCP, GMPs, GAPs and son on to help agri entrepreneurs take their businesses to the next level. Participants advocated for more non reimbursable grants as opposed to the reimbursable model in most incentives programmes. They felt the focus should be on realizing impact and not placing barriers on the farmers or processors having to find funds to participate in the funding programme. Access to land and facilities for start ups, and cluster organizations of women, ex prisoners, youth and differently abled and social organizations promoting their interest was raised. It was felt that moratoriums, lease access and making available in manageable proportions unused viable state lands to these groups. Governments around the region need to prioritize access, reduce barriers to access. Read less

Public Awareness and Social Marketing of Circular Economy Principles and Practices A regional platform on the circular economy in agriculture should be created to not only promote good practices but share and highlight success stories. The platform should also have a knowledge sharing space , discussion board and a means of generating consumer content The use of Green Marks and Sustainable procurement were strongly advocated for as part of a policy that supports education, training and awareness for circular economy principles, practices and standards across the food system value chain There i... Read mores need for review of the education curriculum for agriculture. there is a need for emphasis on sustainable, climate smart and resilient practices that includes the circular economy . These practices should be included from primary to tertiary in adequate depth and breadth. More importantly demonstrable models of the practices should be created for applied learning. It was felt that service learning and other practices that allow the students and graduates in tertiary settings to gain credits for practical application of the science in benefits to the community can become a more dominant mode in education It was felt that there is need in the public awareness and education campaigns to reduce the technicality of the language used, use more local examples and terminology, promote national and regional pride by connecting and placing messages in the cultural context and expressions of song, dance, spoken word and regional genre. It was felt that simpler language, using dialect and real life testimonials will help better connect regional and national audiences to the messages and practices. The historical context in applying these principles and models were also critical to both acceleration and scale Utilize social media platforms and specifically designated platforms . You tube styled video, doodle, tic tok and other means should be used to share information, insights, success stories, lessons learnt and share opportunities for financing and incentives Climate financing, green funding and biodiversity funds should provide support for circular economy activities inclusive of education, public awareness, training and capacity building Partnerships between UNDP. academia, civil society, private sector, social enterprises, were seen as critical to the success of all aspects of PR, education, training and awareness activities. Education and awareness need to be integrated and incorporated into all interventions. Horizontal communications . Partnerships include Ministries of Education, Calypsonians, Reggae Artiste, Spoken Word, drummers, Dancers, Chutney Singers, Poets, Universities and Colleges, Ministries of Agriculture and Ministries of the Environment. A regional and national working group should be convened to assist in navigating these partnerships and assuring the relationships are managed and harnessed on an ongoing basis. technology should be leveraged in practicable ways to harness these relationships. The analytics and data can also be used to enhance the communication flows, planning and intervention. There is need to manage these interactions in the interrelated, interconnected and interdependent ways that they are and not get drawn into recreating or perfecting silos whilst using new technology Read less

Incentivizing Circularity Innovating Financing models should be developed to support and encourage farmers using circular principles and models eg Funding anaerobic digesters, small scale waste to energy plants, composting systems on individual and community scale, procuring food from these farms with good agriculture practices in place Sustainable procurement is a powerful tool to encourage good sustainable and responsible agriculture production and consumption Incentives should be provided to support training, creating social enterprises using waste and reducing the flow of organic waste to ... Read morelandfills Several opportunities exist to create bio fertilizers at scale using fish waste, sargassum, poultry waste, coconut waste, cinnamon, neem and other natural agro based products. There is a need to create programmes . To accelerate and scale these programmes newly structured grants and other financial incentives are needed to support green entrepreneurs and social enterprises to scale and accelerate these practices regionally and nationally across the Caribbean region Incubator Programmes should be created to support innovations across the food system value chain Women, youth, differently abled and disenfranchised individuals should have flexible and preferential access to grant and innovative funding schemes developed to promote businesses that advance circularity  Livestock protocol should follow the same processes and protocols that govern the crop production model.  Government backing, development, and support of insurance specific for the agricultural sector, to include specialized sub-sectors and operations of varying levels. • Jamaica has recently launched such a program. NOTE: One example of an insurance product being introduced in the Caribbean’s is termed Parametric Disaster Insurance, an event-based rather than a loss-based payout system.  Dialogue among nation states in the region is essential. This is a mechanism, for among other things, identification of regional markets and non-traditional collaboration and cooperation.  A leader in the Caribbean research & development and ag education is the Bahama’s Agriculture and Marine Science Institute (BAMSI) is a rich source of real-time, authoritative entity providing ag-specific data and resources regionally and globally. Activities currently underway at BAMSI include: • An EU-funded incubator for small ruminants (i.e., goat, sheep, deer) • Research on feeding and farming methods • Development of regional best practices NOTE: The Cuba Model is the framework being utilized.  The Integrated Production Model is of value within this context.  The example of Tanzania’s planting of plantain and coffee together, was offered.  Incorporation of chicken into an environment such as this (Nathan is planning to expand his company’s farming interests to include chicken farming) was suggested, as appropriate in this context. The droppings (as well as those from ducks and pigs would serve as organic fertilizer.  Minimally, barriers to and concerns with the use of organic fertilizer were identified as: 1. Cost (within the large farm or commercial context). For example, one acre of farmland would require 2-4,000 pounds of manure annually. 2. The runoff and by-product effect – specifically, phosphorous-driven “green” water. The green water produced can be mitigated by planting “run-off” or “cover crops”. NOTE: Currently, one participant’s company has a team of scientists working on developing an organic fertilizer formulation. It’ll be 6-12 months before a usable sample/formulation is available for testing. The goal is making the fertilizer available commercially, as well as for their personal use on their 600-acre farm. Read less

Improving soil health using circular economy principles Indigenous Practices should be advocated Agroforestry should be encouraged and scaled there is no agriculture without soil health. Education of Farmers and other stakeholders will be critical to ensuring that all work together to improve soil health and biodiversity there is need for focussed action to reduce the use of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides Good agricultural practices, organic grow standards and other forms of food safety management system standards can have significant impacts on the biodiversity of soil and food system M... Read moreanaging ewaste and other emissions is critical to preserving soil diversity National Policies providing for better application and verification of the international standards in preserving soil biodiversity can have many co benefits on health, safety, environment and on ecosystem vitality Mechanism need to be created to assure we get beyond having policies without processes and methods to assure impacts are managed, assessed and improved upon Partnerships between Academia, Private Sector and civil society can provide enhanced capability and capacity to design, plan, implement, monitor, improve, sustain policies, procedures and practices necessary to support soil health A regional and working group on soil biodiversity should be establish and provided with adequate funding to plan and implement education, awareness and intervention programmes relevant to supporting soil health and biodiversity . these actions should be aligned to SDGs and climate actions  Suggestions for minimizing the impact of husbandry or animal farming on the environment included: Regional Collaboration & Cooperation. • Specific reasons for this suggestion included provision of technical assistance by experts, knowledge-sharing and guidance (i.e., best practices, innovation, and technology (not necessarily smart farming options). • Develop, fund, and maintain a highly-integrated system. Improving access to information and resources to include greater connectivity was another suggestion. • Specific interventions such as government expanding and improving broadband access, allocating radio bandwidth dedicated to broadcasting information to outlying, tech-poor/tech unsavvy farmers. This includes dedicated government-sponsored audio/radio spots. China and Africa are contemporary examples of countries hosting forums/spots/access points for outlying persons. Incentivization. • Offer/fund efforts to identify other scientific means of minimization and/or mitigation in this discipline. Strengthening of existing regional extension services. • The current “bottlenecking” and inadequacy of service provided were identified as specific examples of how poor extension services act as barriers in this context. Other solutions. • Rotational grazing • Agro-forestry • Water harvesting (increasingly important as region experiences excessive heat, etc.) • Improved land & water management There is need for incentives to scale up Community Composting, Community Compost Bins, Anaerobic digestion, Permaculture clubs and waste to bio fertilizers and other good practices. The is need for flexible pathways to financing and as far as practicable neutering government bureaucracy and influence in the deployment of international funds. More third party avenues and flows are necessary to improve efficiency and alignment . There is need to avoid the policy gamesmanship, manipulation of symbols of progress and create independent third party of tripartite mechanisms that fulfil aims by channeling financing to aligned initiatives. It was strongly felt that government approval is not necessary for alignment to regional or national gaols but instead provide undue influence and control that more often than not hinders progress on the goals when political motives get confused as development objectives Read less

Optimizing the food system value chain There is a need for Collaboration across the Civil Sector, Private Sector, Academia, Communities and UN agencies to help scale actions in the circular economy A coordinating mechanism should be created regionally and nationally to guide and direct action on the circular economy in agriculture. The ISO Technical committees in Circular Economy, Climate Action Food, and other related areas should be incorporated into the national and regional efforts to scale actions on circularity in agriculture and in food systems Scaling Action is key Harmonization the ef... Read moreforts in the Foot System and Climate Action Standardization. Standardization efforts will also be critical especially standards pertaining to separation of waste, community scale collection of organic waste and other efforts to transform a loosely organized effort into a coordinated effort that can be scaled for the benefits to environment and the economy there is a need to create, map and expand job market and build trust in the process Managed and Facilitated Collaboration between civil society, academic, government, farmers and others in food system is critical to scaling action, assuring efficient and effective execution and sustainability Branding, Marketing, Awareness and Promotion is critical . Simple, effective and technologically enhanced ways should be found to promote and advance circular principles and practices across the food system. Optimization cannot take place in silos, vacuum and pockets b ut requires action on the entire system Read less

Data and scientific information is going to be critical to planning and monitoring the benefits and tradeoff of the circular economy Managing the nexus in agriculture, food, water, waste energy will provide the greatest opportunities to make food system more resilient, sustainable and circular there is need to improve consumer awareness and help them to better play their role in th food system as relates to the proper management of waste There is a need to provide opportunities to share success stories in a simplified interactive format Need for Education and a Design that contemplates circula... Read morerity throughout. National and regional programmes needed to support sorting waste at the various sources in the chain , from individual, community and commercial. Find opportunities to scale that sorting and enable the development of downstream sectors that also place emphasis on creating opportunities for the informal sectors Scale education programmes in composting/organizing/producing biofertilizers, enabling health biodiversity and ecosystem vitality by managing the waste flow etc Need to emphasize bottom up approach There is need to localize financing to support. There is need for greater cooperation There is also a need for innovative financing /ESG investment strategies that provide support for circularity in agriculture and food the food system participants need to work together to find ways to help manage waste flows. Contemplate using less, and placing greater emphasis on energy and power generation where practicable. Read less