CARDI Pays Tribute To Late Jamaica Agriculture Minister

ORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad, Sept. 12, 2014, CNS – Executive Director of the Caribbean Agricultural Research and Development Institute has been paying tribute to the late Roger Clarke, Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, in Jamaica.

Arlington Chesney said Clarke was “by far the Minister that has contributed the most to governance of the agriculture sector in the Region and its major activities.”

In a state today Chesney said Clarke recognised the need to fill the void when the Standing Committee of Ministers of Agriculture was disbanded.

“He moved to support the creation of the Forum of Ministers. Subsequently, in acceptance of the need for Ministers to be supported by ALL actors in the repositioning of the sector, he enjoined academia, business, youth and women to become Constituent Members of the Alliance for Sustainable Development of Agriculture and the Rural Milieu (The Alliance).

“He served as Chairman of this group for many years and nurtured it from strength to strength. During that period, he also fully endorsed the initiation and development of the Caribbean Week of Agriculture (CWA). Both the Alliance and CWA are now the major events in the agricultural calendar of the Caribbean.”

Clarke, who had recovered from a successful back surgery, died on August 28 from a suspected heart attack at an airport in Florida, United States, where he was awaiting a flight to Jamaica. He was pronounced dead at hospital.

He will be buried tomorrow.

CNS/db/2014