The Caribbean Agribusiness web site aims at providing portal dedicated to Caribbean food and agribusiness, which integrates existing initiatives and relevant institutions and which serves as the hub for all matters in which business persons (at all scales of operation) have an interest, that is, up to date information, statistics, trade and investment opportunities, policy issues, news/current events, and business tools.

The institutions with which we intend to work most closely include ministries of agirculture (MOAs), marketing boards, producer organizations, such as CaFAN, CABA and CAIC, regional agribusiness associations for sugar, rice, citrus, banana, rum, poultry, pork, brewery products, bakery products, etc), the Caribbean Hotel & Tourism Association (CHTA) and other hospitality organizations, R&D institutions such as CARDI, the Caribbean Regional Fisheries Mechanism (CRFM), the Office of Trade negotiations (OTN) , FAO, CARICOM Statistics, CARICOM ICT4D, the Caribbean Export Development Agency,  IICA, CTA, UNCTAD and several more.

The site was created to fill a gap in the agribusiness environment, which is the absence of a central “clearinghouse” or hub for information gathering and exchange. Indeed, this was one of the priorities identified for urgent action at a consultation on agribusiness for public sector and private sector stakeholders held in 2009.

While the site will be managed by the CARICOM Secretariat, there is no intention to replace or supersede any information service but simply to act as an aggregator of existing information while providing any original content that is available. If, for example, an issue is being dealt with adequately through another institution’s website then all that may be necessary is a link or links to that site together with some brief background information. On the other hand, where it is necessary to aggregate information on a regional or sub-regional basis, e.g. statistics on production or trade, the agriculture information portal will probably be the best place to have this done.

A competitive agribusiness sector is expected to make a positive impact and contribute to export-led growth, food import substitution, enhanced food security, employment creation, and poverty reduction. It is therefore hoped that this initiative will assist in meeting those objectives.

The site was designed by GreenLeaf Designs Inc. of Barbados with funding from the UNDP/Caribbean Regional Unit for Technical Assistance (CARUTA). Further funding was provided by European Union (EU)-funded CARICOM Integration Support Programme (CISP). Maintenance of the site is the responsibility of the Agricultural Development sub-programme of the CARICOM Secretariat.

For further information, contact  caribbeanagribusiness@gmail.com

Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretariat
Turkeyen
Georgetown
Guyana
South America
Tel: +1(592)222-0001 to 0075