Sixty farmers and 20 extension officers in St. Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) will be trained in hot pepper production, mid-supply chain, the impact of climatic factors on production, hot pepper varieties, the cost of production, markets and utilisation of agricultural technology.
The training runs from Tuesday to Thursday and will be delivered to participants in the eastern and western zones.
Luke Lee, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)hot pepper production specialist, Jai Rampersad, FAO Trade Development Specialist and Omardath Maharaj, FAO agribusiness finance specialist will deliver the training.
Rampersad and Lee will also spend two additional days visiting hot pepper farms, distributors, processing and research facilities and seed propagation centres to aid in assessing the needs of the value chain sector and strengthening data and information collection on the sector.
Over the past months, FAO and the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Fisheries, Rural Transformation, Industry and Labour in SVG have been working closely to revamp the hot pepper value chain.
Crucial to this process is assessing the value chain and understanding the priorities for its development, including areas for improvement such as production using good agricultural practices and increasing access to markets.
The FAO technical officers will spend one week in SVG to support this process.
The week will culminate with a review and evaluation of the Upgrading Strategy for the Hot Pepper Value Chain by key stakeholders and a hot pepper cost of production presentation. During this session, stakeholders are expected to validate the upgrading strategy to set its implementation into motion.
Juan Cheaz Pelaez, FAO trade and markets officer for the Caribbean and lead technical officer for the FAO project conducting the week’s activities said the FAO is focused on strengthening the hot pepper and dasheen value chains for their high potential to increase economic opportunities.
“Recognising the potential for both, our approach is to understand the coordination gaps and other factors that have limited sector growth over the years and find ways to support strengthening the value chain so that we can increase incomes for farmers and other players in the value chain, secure public-private partnerships and increase opportunities for investment in the hot pepper sector,” Cheaz Pelaez said.
The development of the hot pepper value chain and the week of engagement with its stakeholders are being conducted under a two-year project of FAO’s Technical Cooperation Programme focusing on Promoting Windward Islands Food Production and Trade Corridor through national and regional value chain development, which is scheduled to end this year.
Great initiative, but it should be a longer project ensuring that all participants are well grounded, and on course. Just a week or two will not be sufficient I suspect.