Business View Caribbean | February 2021

47 BUSINESS VIEW CARIBBEAN FEBRUARY 2021 CAR I BBEAN AGR I CULTURE RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT INST I TUTE (CARDI ) nutrition security and reduction in hunger and poverty. Business View Caribbean spoke with Barton Clarke, Executive Director of CARDI, about the organization’s history, current initiatives, and insights into the future of the agricultural sector in the Caribbean Region. The following is an edited version of the conversation. BVC: Can you share the history of CARDI and its mission today? Clarke: “The Caribbean Agriculture Research and Development Institute was formally launched on Dec 5, 1974 by the Conference of Heads of Governments as the lead CARICOM institution for agriculture and related matters. But the history goes back a bit earlier, in that there are some foundations related to the Imperial College of Tropical Agriculture, which was initiated by the British to serve the needs of the Tropical Commonwealth. Back in 1955, Preparing planting material for distribution to the Bahamas. Planting material is distributed to farmers as part of the Hurricane Dorian recovery efforts.