... professionalism in agriculture! Crops cannot grow and develop without sunlight, water, air and nutrients. The agriculture sector will not progress in the absence of true professionalism in all those involved in its development process. This professionalism must exist at the levels: among producers; their service providers, including extension, input suppliers, marketers and researchers; and policy makers. This i-bulletin examines the need for us to look inward, at our own professionalism, as we each play our part and how our collective roles affect the development of the sector. Just as agriculture is rooted in the soil, agricultural development is rooted in professionalism. In a casual conversation with a Wine Engineer from West Germany on vacation in the Caribbean prior to the reunification of Germany, I (Naitram) asked “what is the difference between East and West Germany, with respect to wine making?” Her response was “in the East they are not professional and consequently they are not very efficient”. I asked her to elaborate and she explained that in her visits to wineries in the East, (prior to reunification) the attitude was not one of getting the job done. She explained that as an engineer, if she needed a part to repair machinery to maintain optimum production and the person responsible for procurement was unable to do it in a timely manner, she would go out and get it. On the contrary, her counterpart in the East would wait until the procurement person gets the part - in the meantime production suffers. This example was used to demonstrate the primary purpose of professionalism "getting the job done, in a timely manner and based on accepted standards". Professionalism is more than one's educational achievement and training; it has a lot to do with work attitude and ethics. There are some notable examples of agri-food Caribbean companies that have used professionalism as a critical part of their competitive tool kit and have successfully penetrated and maintained their space in world markets. Some popular ones are the Trinidadian Fruta fruit drinks with its Chubby brand that has been patented internationally and currently being marketed in the Americas, the Caribbean, Europe and the Middle East and the world famous Angostura Bitters; Jamaica's Grace Kennedy range of agri-food products that competes well in the Caribbean and North American Markets; the Guyanese XM and El Dorado rums that consistently win international awards for their fine quality. However such success stories of professionalism and innovation in agriculture are too few and far between. We need more! promoting a wider appreciation of information and knowledge management for agricultural development generally and specifically, support for the IICA/CTA MEAgrISys project. #4 of 2007 a collaborative effort of: Naitram Ramnanan CaRAPN Member and: Diana Francis Trade Policies and Negotiations Programme IICA Caribbean Region enabled by: Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA –ACP) The Views expressed herein are not necessarily those of the CTA and IICA
