The CARICOM Private Sector Organization (CPSO) is pleased to support this years’ Caribbean Week of Agriculture (CWA) themed ‘Accelerating Vision 25 by 2025’. The vision for CWA 2023 is fully aligned with an early mandate issued by CARICOM Heads of Government for which the CPSO, in collaboration with the Ministerial Task Force on Food Production and Food Security (MTF), undertook detailed analytical work, which identified nineteen agri-food investment opportunities with potential to displacement extra-regional imports.  

Achieving the ‘25% by 2025’ mandate will require a ‘Whole of Community’ approach, in joined up action, to transform regional agri-food systems. These actions include inter alia, removal of the remaining non-tariff barriers, policy reforms to incentivize private sector investments in strategic priority sectors, improved access to finance and Fintech, especially for micro, small and medium-sized firms, transportation and logistics improvements, more readily available derisking instruments, adaptation and adoption of modern agriculture and biotechnology innovations, along with human capital enhancement. 

According to the 5th Round of the CARICOM and World Food Programme Study, in May 2023, approximately 52% of the Region’s population remains food insecure. CWA 2023 is therefore happening at a critical juncture for the Region’s agri-food systems, providing the opportunity to strengthen the agriculture-health nexus to support responsible production and consumption, healthier diets, improved food and nutrition security, zero hunger and poverty reduction.

Achieving the ‘25 by 2025’ mandate also requires investment at scale. Several large-scale projects with transformative capacity are conceptually well-advanced such as the Bahamas Integrated Agri-park, Cassava Project in Trinidad and Tobago and the Animal Feed Initiative in Guyana.

The CPSO’s technical competence is fully engaged towards the achievement of the ‘25% x 2025’ Initiative and the CPSO looks forward to working with partners from across the Region and around the world in the attainment of this noble pursuit.