Barbados-based logistics hubs to support Caribbean food security

The supply and distribution of food and disaster relief items to Caribbean Community (CARICOM) member states will soon be facilitated by two separately-managed regional logistics hubs, both based in Barbados. In a region in which extreme weather, US import dependency and regional barriers to trade are ongoing threats to food security, the two facilities will bring a promise of strengthened regional supply chains and logistics capacities as well as heightened intra-regional trade and efficient distribution of humanitarian assistance in the event of disaster.

According to Prime Minister, Mia Amor Mottley, Barbados is ideally placed from a geographic perspective, to serve as a trans-shipment point “from which you can reach multiple countries in both the Caribbean Island chain and in coastal Latin America.”

Caribbean agriculture and fisheries are disproportionately exposed to climate impacts on weather patterns, air and sea surface temperatures, and freshwater availability – threats that are compounded by the region’s US$5 billion food import bill, representing 80 percent of all food consumed.