Last Updated on August 24, 2022, 8:26 AM AST by Anthony Morris
A three-day Agri-preneur Conference is starting for women and girls on Nevis. The conference aims to empower them to become business persons in the agriculture industry and was commenced on August 23, 2022.
The first of its kind, the Agri-preneur conference is a brainchild of the Ministry of Health and Gender Affairs. The three-day forum is being hosted in partnership with the Ministry of Agriculture.
While overviewing the educational Agri-preneur event, Ms Shelisa Martin-Clarke, Permanent secretary in the Ministry of Health and Gender Affairs, highlighted the importance of women in agriculture. She also stressed the island and the ministry’s role in assisting them in advancing.
“Women are an important part of agriculture not only here on Nevis all over the world. Thus, it is our responsibility at the Ministry of Health and Gender Affairs to ensure that the women of our present generation and the next generation of women are equipped with the skills and knowledge to face the growing challenges of food security.” She said.
“We believe that women have a lot to contribute to the agriculture industry. We aim to have empowered and educated women so they can engage in sustainable agriculture,” she said.
Ms Martin-Clarke also spoke of the conference’s objectives,which target four specific goals of Sustainable Development.
“The objectives of this conference are to make women and girls aware about climate change and smart climate agriculture; to sustainably increase agricultural productivity, food security and incomes; to adapt and build resilience to climate change; to provide women and girls access to finance to invest in smart climate agriculture; to provide women and girls with information to operate an agribusiness successfully.
The conference consists of short sessions to help the participants in establishing and running successful agri-businesses and become good agri-preneurs
The participants were exposed to the following sessions on the first day:
- Importance of Agriculture and challenges Women to face in Agriculture
- Climate Change and Climate Smart Practices; and
- Agribusiness
Anthony Morris covers stories related to politics and regional developments. His in-depth reporting about governance and reforms makes him stand out in regional journalism, with a deep analysis of political trends and their impact on Caribbean communities.
