By: Chaïra Flanders
Basseterre, St. Kitts, February 17, 2020 (ZIZ News): The Department of Agriculture in collaboration with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) is hosting a workshop this week for Pesticide Inspectors.
The two day workshop follows the opening of an Empty Pesticides Container Management workshop which was held on Thursday.
Facilitator and Global FAO Pesticides Registration Toolkit trainer Guy Mathurin told ZIZ that the participants will be introduced to a draft Pesticide Inspectors manual throughout the sessions and then went on to explain the purpose for hosting the workshop.
He said, “We intend to introduce them to a draft Pesticide Inspectors Manual which we will be sharing throughout the region. The purpose of this is to more or less ensure that Pesticide Inspectors in carrying out their duties in the Caribbean region are all on the same page.”
Mathurin explained how the workshop can benefit Pesticide Regulatory authorities across the Caribbean.
“The facilitator said, “Some Pesticide Regulatory Authorities in the Caribbean are not very well staffed or strong in their work and this manual will help to more or less help streamline their operations and make sure that we ensure public and environmental health when it comes to managing pesticides throughout their life cycle ”
The Pesticide Inspector workshop forms part of a regional project which involves countries such as Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Guyana, Jamaica, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, Trinidad and Tobago, Suriname and St. Kitts and Nevis.
The two day workshop is being held at the Department of Agriculture Conference Room in La Guerite, Basseterre.