September 12, 2011: Senator the Honourable Vasant Bharath, Minister of Food Production, Land and Marine Affairs will leave for Jamaica on Wednesday where he is to attend the 2nd Annual Caribbean Fine Cocoa Conference and Chocolate Expo on September 15th and 16th at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Montego Bay. The theme of the Conference is ‘Investing in Fine Cocoa and its Value Chain’.

Minister Bharath, carded to deliver the Feature Address at the Opening Ceremony (Day One) of the Conference, will join the stage with the Honourable William JC Hutchinson, Jamaica’s State Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries.

The Honourable Stephen Cadiz, Minister of Trade and Industry, Trinidad and Tobago and the Honourable Christopher Tufton, Minister of Industry, Investment and Commerce, Jamaica are expected to address the Conference on Day 2.

This two day Conference will feature papers, presentations and exhibits from Jamaica, Grenada, Belize, St Lucia, Dominican Republic and Trinidad and Tobago; and will seek to address the following relevant issues of production of value-add cocoa products, improved viability of small cocoa farmers, application of technology in cocoa farming and agro-processing, food safety and quality, and entrepreneurial cocoa agri-business. Day one of the Conference will feature an update on fine cocoa sectors across several Caribbean countries, highlighting quality production, management practices and food safety; while Day two will focus on opportunities for value add and commercial enterprises.

Among the more than one hundred and fifty (150) participants and attendees expected at the Conference are Professor Kenneth Ramchand, President, University of Trinidad and Tobago (UTT), representatives of the Cocoa and Coffee Industry Board, Trinidad and Tobago; the Agricultural Society of Trinidad and Tobago; and the Cocoa Industry Board, Jamaica.

The Caribbean Fine Cocoa Forum (CFCF), now in its second year, was initiated as a European Union funded project under the ACP Science and Technology Programme in 2009. Its main partners include the Cocoa Industry Boards of Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago, and the Ministry of Food Production, Land and Marine Affairs, Trinidad and Tobago, led by the University of Trinidad and Tobago (UTT).

Contact:
Yolande Agard-Simmons
Director, Corporate Communications
Ministry of Food Production, Land and Marine Affairs
868-499-0770
868-622-1221

ysimmons@malmr.gov.tt

September 12, 2011

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