 food and nutrition security institute team preparing for next phase of work food and nutrition security institute team preparing for next phase of work food and nutrition security institute team preparing for next phase of work webmaster thu 3222018 1602 the team that is studying the feasibility of the establishment of an institute of food and nutrition security ifans at the university of guyana ug is preparing for a key next phase of its work which is visits to model food security entities abroad in forthcoming weeks at the top of the list is the center for food security and entrepreneurship at the university of the west indies uwi cave hill headed by distinguished scientist professor leonard o garro who is cochair of the ug feasibility team the team was appointed earlier this year by vicechancellor professor ivelaw griffith following a national stakeholders consultation held last november at which minister of agriculture noel holder delivered the keynote address and which involved officials from the ministries of agriculture public health and education the guyana school of agriculture gsa the food and agriculture organization fao of the united nations interamerican institute of cooperation for agriculture iica the national agricultural research and extension institute narei and university officials the fao whose representative in guyana mr reuben robertson is a member of the feasibility team has provided ug with a us 50000 grant to support the team s work the 35member broadbased team is cochaired by vincentianborn professor o garro founding director of the center for food security and entrepreneurship at uwi in barbados and guyaneseborn distinguished food scientist professor verian thomas of florida agricultural and mechanical university in tallahassee florida the team s inaugural meeting was a twoday exercise on january 25 and 26 2018 on the first day members of the team held look listen and learn sessions at global seafood distributors gsa narei guyana livestock development authority glda and the satyadeow sawh aquaculture station on the second day the full team met at the turkeyen campus to begin work on goals the design of the institute and a timeline for action among other things in attendance were representatives from the edward beharry group of companies the ministries of public health agriculture communities and education fao iica demerara distillers ltd glda and ug vicechancellor griffith wrapped up the day s proceedings with a charge to team members to remain engaged with the process inform colleagues at their institutions and to help garner public support for the initiative he also encouraged them to seek to leverage resources to aid the work of the feasibility team and of the institute when it is formally established the team undertook to present a first draft report to the vicechancellor by the end of june after which there will stakeholder consultations in various parts of the country to discuss the report before it is finalised also on february 28 vice chancellor griffith and members of the feasibility team updated minister holder on the team s work according to vicechancellor griffith the advent of oil and gas makes it even more important that we do not forget the essence of what we are an agricultural nation with wonderful potential to satisfy national and regional food and nutrition needs i trust our nation will use some of the soontobe available oil and gas bounty to invest intentionally in agriculture and education he added it would be great to launch the institute on this year s world food day in october ug in brief with a current enrollment of some 8000 students the university of guyana ug has graduated more than 20000 students who have gone on to successful careers locally regionally and internationally the university is also a major contributor to the national economy and to business and industry established in 1963 on a parttime basis with shared space at queens college ug moved to its own campus at turkeyen in 1970 and expanded in 2000 with the addition of the tain campus it now offers more than 60 undergraduate and postgraduate programmes including engineering environmental studies forestry urban planning and management business entrepreneurship tourism studies education creative arts economics law medicine optometry and nursing several online programmes are available and ug also offers extramural classes at four locations through its institute of distance and continuing education idce the ug also offers the opportunity for student engagement in debating sports and cultural religious and professional activities public relations division march 20 2018  