The Caribbean Week of Agriculture (CWA) is the premier event on the Regional agricultural calendar. It provides a forum for key Regional decision-makers in the public and private sectors to acknowledge the importance of agriculture and rural life to the economic, social and environmental stability of CARICOM Member States. It also affords major stakeholders in agriculture and related sectors an opportunity to forge a common vision for agriculture and the enhancement of rural life.
Established in 2001, CWA has been held under the aegis of the Alliance for Sustainable Development of Agriculture and the Rural Milieu (“The Alliance”). From inception, the main collaborating agencies were the Inter-American Institute for Co-operation on Agriculture (IICA) and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretariat. In October 2002, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) joined these two organisations to form a tripartite Secretariat for the Alliance. IICA, the CARICOM Secretariat and the FAO have collaborated on the convening and servicing of meetings of the Alliance as well as the activities of the CWA.
The CWA planning team comprises five of the key Regional and international agencies whose main mandate involves agriculture and rural development. These are IICA, CARICOM, FAO, Caribbean Agricultural Research and Development Institute (CARDI) and the Technical Center for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA) .
Activities on CWA 2018 agenda include an opening ceremony and reception, workshops, annual general meetings of the Alliance members, an exhibition and trade show and field visits.
CWA will be hosted by Barbados from October 8-12, 2018. For more information, please visit cwa2018.caricom.org.