AS PART of its commitment to the advancement of the agri-industry in Jamaica, the Inter-American Institute for Co-operation in Agriculture (IICA) recently opened its Agri-business Training Centre at its office in Hope Gardens.
The Centre will be delivering multimedia courses in CD-Rom and through the Internet in the field of agribusiness to its clients.
According to IICA representative to Jamaica, Dr. Chelston Brathwaite, "The objective of the Centre is to develop solid cadres of professional, technical persons and managers." These individuals, he noted, "will lead the economic diversification and technological modernisation process that is aimed at enhancing the productivity and competitiveness of the agricultural and rural sector in Jamaica."
The courses scheduled to start before year end include:
Farm management for technicians, owners and managers
Information and extension methods in agriculture
Health and extension methods in agriculture
E-commerce for Agribusiness Introduction and Local Commerce.
Agribusiness courses in: Regional and International commerce, Organic farming for entrepreneurs and Vegetable production in the Carib-bean.
To complement these courses and to enable the students to complete them, students will first be trained in the use of the computer and the Internet.
The partners with IICA in the production and management of these multimedia and Internet-based courses are:
McGill University
University of Nova Scotia
Caribbean Export Development Agency
VII Interactive and Finn Damtoft.
The Centre is the second in IICA's Network of Distance Learning Centres to be established in the Caribbean. In 1998, IICA Barbados spearheaded the network with establishment of the Caribbean Agri-business Distance Learning Centre. Another centre will be opened this month at the IICA office in Trinidad. Similar centres will be opened in Grenada and Guyana before the close of 2000 and one in St. Lucia in early 2001.
According to IICA, the Net-work of Distance Learning Centres in the Caribbean, will be part of the overall network of distance learning centres the Inter-American Distance Education and Training Network headed by the centre for Distance Training - Mexico at the IICA Headquarters in Costa Rica.
IICA said that it sees a unique possibility of collaboration in distance education, among universities, governments, NGOs, private sector and international organisations. The Institute will also grasp the opportunity through interactivity to better respond to the demand of the clients who will indicate what their needs are.
IICA believes that in a few years from now, most of the farmers and rural people will have access to a computer and the Internet directly at home, in an enterprise or through communal information and Internet centres.
"The most dynamic producers, whatever their size, collectively or individually, will be able to buy and sell products through the Internet.
"There will be services to identify insects and pests on different sites, they will be able to get information for their government on the Internet, they will be able to receive training and the training courses will be attractive," IICA said.
