According to statements by Dionne Clarke-Harris, representative of the Caribbean Agricultural Research and Development Institute for Jamaica, the event must address this issue especially considering that extreme weather conditions damage the ability of farmers to recover from drought or flooding.

“That affects production and therefore the farmer’s livelihood and staying in business is affected because he could not meet his financial commitments on the crop he lost,” she told the Jamaica Gleaner newspaper.

Therefore, she added, these gaps that limit the ability to reduce the food import bill must be addressed.

In addition to the issue of affordable financing, Clarke-Harris assessed that the digitization of the region’s agricultural sector is another issue that needs to be addressed at the meeting to be held in Nassau, Bahamas, Oct. 9-13.

“We are still not embracing electronic solutions in agriculture, so I think if we can start to address these issues in a meaningful way, it would really help move the needle significantly,” she argued.

He also stated that the objective of the meeting is focused on reducing the region’s food import bill by increasing production and productivity, and one of the issues worth discussing is the elimination of non-tariff barriers and making trade more fluid.

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