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Assessing Trade-Offs and Business Opportunities for Poultry Import Substitution, and Small Ruminant Value Chain Development in CARICOM - TCP/SLC/3805

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Year of publication 2024

Place of publication Rome, Italy ;

Pages 9

Publisher FAO ;

Category Factsheet

Synopsis (short abstract) The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) comprises both net food importing nations and countries with vital agricultural export sectors. However, most small-island states in the Eastern Caribbean are net food importers and rely on international markets, outside the CARICOM region, for their food consumption. The development of their agriculture sectors is faced by such challenges as natural and geographic constraints, natural disasters, farm size, limited trade competitiveness and import dependency. Given the strong dependence on food imports and changing consumer preferences towards imported processed food, the management of food security will increasingly be a trade and macroeconomic issue rather than an agricultural one. The consumption of imported processed foods has also led to a significant rise in obesity and other non-communicable diseases. Developing the production base and VCs of products that can be competitively produced locally would create jobs, increase livelihoods from agriculture and increase access to fresh produce and protein sources, particularly in rural communities. Increasing intraregional trade, reducing dependence on food imports from outside the region and increasing the competitiveness of their agriculture sectors were major goals of CARICOM’s governments. The Caribbean Private Sector (CPSO) also aimed to reduce the agricultural imports of CARICOM by 25 percent by 2025.

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