Study says Caribbean must tap into economies of scale to improve agricultural production

A new study suggests the design of policies and greater investment in eight priority areas will enable Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) to raise agricultural productivity, meet its own food and nutrition needs, and help meet the burgeoning world demand for food, fiber and fuel.

The study released in the United States on Tuesday, was published by the Global Harvest Initiative (GHI), a partnership of organizations that includes the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) and the Inter American Development Bank (IDB).

The study recommends that governments, the international donor community, the private sector and agricultural producers implement actions to tap the region’s competitive advantages, especially the wealth of its natural resources.  “One of the major challenges for the region is the need to transform family and small-holder farming into a competitive and sustainable form of agriculture, capable of achieving increased food production and a substantial improvement in the income and quality of life of producers,” IICA Director General Víctor M. Villalobos said.

The  study also proposes that the policies needed to attract more investment to agriculture in LAC and increase the region’s contribution to world food security should focus on efforts to boost the advance of agricultural science, research and development as well as improve the transfer of knowledge to producers and modernize agricultural extension systems and services.

It also calls for the authorities to promote and create frameworks that offer legal security, to attract investment in infrastructure for the agricultural sector, support irrigation, water management and technology and promote, enhance and facilitate regional and global trade.

The need to improve farmers’ access to financial services: managing risk and the availability of credit were also outlined in the study.  GHI and the IDB also recommend that the LAC countries place agriculture at the center of their development policies and invest in the creation of public goods through research, development and innovation, to stimulate higher productivity in the sector.

Copyright Caribbean360 2014