FAO and INCATEMA partnership to support small island nations in the Caribbean

The new partnership will strengthen small island nations' efforts to grow more food, avoid food loss and waste, use already scarce natural resources more sustainably, and be better equipped to withstand the impacts of climate change to which they are particularly prone.

Through this new partnership, the UN food agency and private sector partner will ascertain how renewable energy is currently used and how it could be scaled up in food production, processing and preservation as well as work towards creating a more enabling policy environment for the use of new energy efficient technologies in the region.

In particular, FAO and INCATEMA will pilot the use of solar drying technologies in food processing with groups of food business operators in Barbados, Dominica, Grenada and Saint Lucia, and solar irrigation in the Dominican Republic and Haiti. They will also identify the economic and social benefits and constraints of using the technologies at local and national levels. The data and evidence generated will be used to inform policy development and guide future investments in upscaling climate resilient food production and processing practices in the region.

FAO and INCATEMA aim to strengthen the following areas through cooperation:

• The promotion of sustainable rural development though inclusive agro-food value chain development strategies;
• The increase of the availability and consumption of safe, quality and affordable fresh foods;
• The reduction of food losses and waste across food supply chains;
• The development and dissemination of knowledge and training material and promotion of the development and/or the modernisation of food processing.

More information and links are available HERE.

Photo credit ©FAO/Thony Belizaire