The Cropper Foundation and partners will be hosting a webinar about the role that sustainable agriculture can play in promoting food security for Trinidad and Tobago, Tuesday at 2 pm, June 22, 2021.
The webinar titled “Sustainable Agriculture – The key to Food Security” will feature an interactive panel discussion that brings together a diverse group of stakeholders in sustainable agriculture to answer questions from the general public.
Participants are encouraged to engage the panelists for actionable advice on how they can prioritise sustainably produced food items when shopping at the grocery store or market in Trinidad and Tobago.
PANELISTS:
Dr Chaney St. Martin (IICA)
Dr Chaney St Maritn is an International Specialist in Water and Soil Management & Climate Innovation at The Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) with 19 years of experience in research, field work and project design and implementation. He has worked in 15 different countries and has served on high level technical panels and committees for hemispherical and regional planning for climate change and disaster risk management.
Dr St. Martin specialises in agroecology, vegetable and field crop agronomy, soil and plant health management, protected agriculture, integrated water resource management and ecological data analysis. He has published 30 pieces of academic works in reputable publishers and is currently a reviewer for 10 international journals focused on soil, crop, environmental, and sustainability science.
Currently, Dr St. Martin Co-leads the Global Soil Hub-Solution Cluster under Action Track 3 of the United Nations Food Systems Summit and is a certified trainer of Trainers in Climate Risk Management and damage and loss. Dr St. Martin has a Ph.D. in Crop Science and a Postgraduate Diploma in Integrated Water Resource Management from The Galilee International Management Institute-Israel.
Nirmalla Debysingh-Persad (NAMDEVCO)
Mrs Nirmalla Debysingh-Persad currently holds the position of Chief Executive Officer of the National Agricultural Marketing and Development Corporation (NAMDEVCO) where has been employed since 2006 having formerly worked in the positions of Food Technologist (2006-2012) and Manager of NAMDEVCO Packinghouse, Piarco (January 2012 – May 2017).
Mrs. Debysingh-Persad has extensive knowledge and experience in post-harvest technology, product development and food safety. She is trained in HACCP, ISO 22000, GlobalGAP and has extensive experience in the area of food processing and development of a wide range of locally grown fresh cut products using fresh cut technology having been trained at University of Davis.
She is a Lead Trainer for the FSPCA Preventative Control Human Food Rule, meetings FDA requirements for FSMA. To date she has published three articles in the Journal of Tropical Agriculture based on her research in the area of “enhancing shelf life of fresh produce using nanotechnology”. Mrs Debysingh-Persad has an M.Sc. Tropical Commodity Utilisation
Ken Doorson (Visual artist and Entrepreneur)
Ken Doorson is the Founder of Green borne NV and the Managing Director of the high-tech IDB Lab-funded Green Wings Precision Farming Project based in Suriname.
Green Borne NV is an aerial management company specialised in total foliar application (chelated micronutrients) with Drones and agriculture airplanes.
To develop sustainable agriculture practices in Suriname, Green Wings has started the Green Wings precision farming project. A project that has its focus on the introduction of agriculture spraying drones and data collecting for an agriculture data platform to support small scale farmers.
Dhaatrie Rampersad (Fourth Generation Farmer)
Dhaatrie Rampersad is progressive farmer based in Trinidad and Tobago who believes in using her knowledge and experience to empower others. As a fourth generation farmer with a BSc. Biochemistry, she has both the life experience and knowledge needed to pursue her ambitions.
Ms Rampersad is currently in the process of pursuing her MSc. Food Science and Technology
REGISTRATION & PARTICIPATION:
This hour-and-a-half-long panel discussion will be moderated by environmental economist and TCF director, Alexander Girvan.
The panel discussion will be held virtually via Zoom and will be broadcast live to social media via The Cropper Foundation’s Facebook page. Members of the public wishing to engage with panelists during the question and answer segment are invited to register using the following link: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_vSbiuKdiTSGeyKVT3rFlyg
This webinar represents the second in a series of six (6) panel discussions to be hosted under a multi-stakeholder SAFE Food Campaign that was launched for World Food Safety Day, June 7, 2021.
| # | Panel Discussion Title | Date | Time |
| 1 | SAFE Food Now for a Healthy Tomorrow – A Panel Discussion | June 7 | 2:00 pm |
| 2 | Sustainable Agriculture – The Key To Food Security | June 22 | 2:00 pm |
| 3 | Pesticides, Preservatives and Microbial Bacteria
– Beyond What The Eye Can See |
July 6 | 2:00 pm |
| 4 | Protect Your Family From Food Fraud – Here’s How | July 20 | 2:00 pm |
| 5 | Eco-Friendly Packaging – How to verify, know the standard | August 3 | 2:00 pm |
| 6 | Developing a SAFE Food culture in T&T | August 18 | 2:00 pm |
– Learn more about the SAFE Food Campaign: https://tinyurl.com/2w36p2jt
– View SAFE Food Campaign Launch Webinar: https://tinyurl.com/k6d8jcjy
– Discover The SAFE Food Challenge with prizes to be won: https://tinyurl.com/y2bd38yy
The SAFE Food Campaign stakeholders include: The Cropper Foundation, The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO), The National Food Safety Coordinating Committee, The National Agricultural Marketing and Development Corporation (NAMDEVCO), Trinidad & Tobago Bureau of Standards (TTBS), Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture Delegation in Trinidad and Tobago (IICA) and The Caribbean Industrial Research Institute (CARIRI)
This campaign has been implemented under the IDB Lab-funded action “Making Agriculture Profitable and Sustainable”.
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