GOVERNMENT PLANS TO HIRE a team of international consultants to “stimulate growth” in agriculture and fisheries using a modernised information and technology infrastructure.
The effort is being led by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food, Fisheries and Water Resource Management, which has launched a consultancy to “implement an integrated agricultural and fisheries knowledge management system”.
“The overall objective of this exercise is to revitalize and transform the agriculture and fisheries sector from an agrarian sector to a more modern, efficient, technology and knowledge-driven sector that would ensure an adequate level of food security for Barbados and optimum competitiveness through the production of high quality agricultural produce, increased innovation and stakeholder collaboration and enhanced value-added activity,” the related terms of reference document said.
“A team of international consultants will evaluate the ICT infrastructure for the agriculture and fisheries sector and design an integrated system for knowledge management which must include a market information system, document management system and a farm management information system.”
This will see the hiring of a local systems analyst and software development consultant to “collaborate with the international consultants during the necessary audits and systems analysis and perform the necessary developmental work to fully implement the proposed system”.
The major technology overhaul was necessary, officials said, because the ministry and its subsidiary agencies “currently operate on separate, aged and obsolete ICT platforms”.
“There is no connectivity between the [ministry] and its agencies to allow for the easy sharing of information.
“This, in itself, contributes to inefficiencies and ineffectiveness in the service that the [ministry] delivers to stakeholders in the wider sector,” they added.
The ministry also said that “in an economy that has been sluggish for over seven years, [they found] it necessary to enhance its service delivery to stakeholders in the agricultural and fisheries sector”.
“It is viewed that the first step in doing this is to improve its current system of disseminating information to the public and the manner in which this information or knowledge is managed. It is believed that this can act to stimulate growth in the agricultural and fisheries sector.”
“Consequently, the [ministry] under the Barbados Human Resource Development Strategy, will seek to network all stakeholders in the agricultural and fisheries sector, creating an enabling environment in which relevant and reliable information and knowledge can be shared, exchanged and easily accessed by all stakeholders.
“By doing this, the [ministry] would also be more able to meet the demands of the sector and effectively fulfil its mandate.” (SC)
