Curepe (Trinidad) - FAO and the Centre for Agriculture and Biosciences International (CABI) - Trinidad organized two seminars on promoting agroecology as a viable agricultural model and on the importance of agroforestry in integrated farming systems in the Caribbean.

Promoting agroecology as a viable agricultural model

The challenges to make agricultural production systems more sustainable and profitable are similar across the Caribbean region and evolve around inconsistencies in quantity and quality of produce due to factors of production, environmental degradation and climatic changes. Many of the countries have trained agricultural producers and a high consumer demand for agroecological produced food. However, most agricultural enterprises do not operate at their optimum despite having the knowledge, land, labour, markets and support.

In this context of sustainable and profitable production systems, agroecology is gaining momentum as information becomes more available based on anecdotal and case study evidence of its multiple benefits, from climate resilience to farm productivity. The challenge has always been to achieve sustainable food systems in the region and remains as an issue to be addressed in discussing agroecology as a business model.

The webinar introduced the key elements of agribusiness and explored the strategic management of an agroecological farm using basic business principles.

The objective of the webinar was to generate a discussion on how to achieve sustainable and profitable food systems through agroecological approaches in the region and to identify the possible impact of agroecology on a farm business.

A recording of the webinar is available here.

Agroforestry in integrated farming systems for sustainable food production in the Caribbean

Agroforestry is the integration of trees with crop and livestock production. The addition of trees to a parcel of land mimicking the natural ecosystem achieves several objectives. Primarily, it benefits biodiversity as the agroforesty system becomes more diverse.

Agroforestry has the potential to improve the livelihoods of rural families, reduce poverty and mitigate land degradation. It is one of the most commonly recommended land use strategies to increase the adaptive capacity of rural families to the vagaries of climate change. Agroforestry is increasingly being recognized as a key land use for the provision of environmental services, such as carbon sequestration, watershed protection and improving soil health.

The webinar introduced an overview of the state of agroforestry in the Caribbean and proposed a strategy to mainstream it to simultaneously improve the livelihoods of the rural families and the environment. The strategy includes a basket of agroforestry technologies for farmers to choose from according to their local cultural and biophysical conditions.

The objective of the webinar was foster a critical debate towards the diversification of agroforestry in the Caribbean within the context of agroecology.

A recording of the webinar is available here.