Caribbean agriculture promoted at international meeting in Vieques
Dozens of farmers from Puerto Rico and across the Caribbean gathered in Vieques to exchange strategies for addressing climate change during the First Caribbean Agricultural Meeting.
The four-day event marked the culmination of a year of virtual dialogues and was hosted by the Vieques-based agroecological collective La Colmena Cimarrona.
“With climate change and the complications of the global economy, we decided to discuss how farmers can solve problems like the drought, which is getting worse, and how rain is arriving in times that were previously dry,” said Ana Elisa Pérez-Quintero, co-manager of La Colmena Cimarrona. “If we come together and face these situations together, we can define our agriculture.”
The meeting included participants from Jamaica; Barbuda; St. Thomas and St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands; Mexico, Colombia and its San Andrés Island; and various towns in Puerto Rico. Farmers from Belize, Honduras, the Dominican Republic and Cuba also took part, with sessions held in Creole, English and Spanish.
Katherine Martínez, a member of La Colmena Cimarrona, said the goal was to “create educational materials through dialogues on the adaptation of agroecology in the context of climate change, supporting other farmers so they can continue to sustain their agricultural production.”
Recommendations from the group included increasing fruit tree cultivation, diversifying crops, encouraging small family farms and using biofermentation techniques. In Puerto Rico, farmers in Lares reported success with solidarity-based agricultural stores offering cassava, cheese, pineapple and other drought-resistant goods.
The program also included a beekeeping workshop.
“The Africanization of bees has arrived in Puerto Rico,” Pérez-Quintero explained. “These bees are more productive and better suited to our tropical climate.”
Organizers plan to continue the dialogue virtually and reconvene future gatherings to strengthen regional food sovereignty.
