In an attempt to improve this country's food security and ensure the Caribbean region can accurately recognise and respond to animal and food-borne diseases, officials of the Ministry of Agriculture, Land and Marine Resources has convened a two-day symposium to educate local farmers and other officials about what needs to be done.
Delivering brief remarks during the opening ceremony at the Arthur Lok Jack Graduate School of Business, Mt Hope, the ministry's chief veterinary officer, David Kangaloo, expressed concerns about the increasing world population and each country's continued ability to provide food for their citizens.
Kangaloo said with a current estimated global population of approximately seven billion people and with that number expected to grow to nine billion by 2050, it was necessary now for the relevant authorities to get their act together.
Claiming that over 70 per cent of new and emerging infectious diseases for the past 30 years had originated from animals, Kangaloo agreed with the other speakers that diseases such as ebola, salmonella, mad cow disease, avian influenza and leptospirosis, had been passed to humans from wild animals.
Titled Animal Disease Recognition and Response Workshop, the symposium is being hosted by a number of agencies including the European Union, the Pan American Health Organisation, World Health Organisation, UWI's Research Development Impact Fund, Food and Agriculture Organisation; and CIRAD.
Under the theme “One Health, One Caribbean, One Love”, the goal of the initiative, according to Professor Chris Oura, was to increase food security throughout the Caribbean region by decreasing the risk of livestock production losses due to foreign and endemic animal diseases.
Stating that they were about educating farmers and livestock owners, Oura said key areas had been identified as they worked on compiling a concerted and integral approach to the complex issue.
Seeking to ensure that the training reached the communities for which it was intended, agricultural economist Omardath Maharaj urged Oura and his team to expand the workshop sessions for persons in rural areas.
Claiming that T&T's food import bill was around $5.5 million and that most of the imports originated from the US, Maharaj said given the global conditions right now with the attacks by the Muslim extremist group Islamic State one had to consider whether those arrangements would continue in the future.
Also making out a case for the education of people residing in rural areas, director at the UWI School of Veterinary Medicine, Professor Murali Manohar said early detection and rapid response were essential to the preservation of both animal and human health, food safety and security and to alleviate rural poverty.
He called for the establishment of a regional network to ensure timely communication among countries and for the introduction of legislation to aid in the process.