Hugh MartinHugh Martin
AT THE meeting of CARICOM ministers of agriculture held at the Jamaica Conference Centre in Kingston in January, much was made of the imminent commencement of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME). At that time it was just a couple of weeks away from the scheduled signing of the documents by Jamaica, Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago that would create the Single Market between those three states. The full CSME would come into effect later in the year when most of the other 12 states would come on board. Those plans have now been pushed back indefinitely as CARICOM leaders this week postponed the inauguration as a consequence of the ruling by the Judiciary Committee of the Privy Council against Jamaica's legislation establishing the Caribbean Court of Justice.
PROJECT DOCUMENT.
One of the main items on the agenda at that forum of ministers was the signing of what was referred to as the CABA/MIF Project document. Unfortunately, nothing about this project was reported by the media and, as far as I understand, the general public is still in the dark about the meaning of those acronyms. Mr. Patrick Sibblies, Chairman of the Agribusiness Council of Jamaica, who is also Chairman of the Caribbean Agribusiness Association (CABA), has sent me a summary of the project document including a list of the acronyms. So we now know what CABA means and MIF is simply Multilateral Investment Fund.
When Dr. Keith Evans, Representative, Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) signed the project document at the Ministers' meeting he was ensuring that funds would be available for implementing the project. The Id's contribution to the US$3.7 million project is US$2.44 million. Counterpart funds will come from CAB which will draw on the resources of regional governments and agencies such as the Inter-American Institute for Co-operation on Agriculture (IICA).
I am obliged to Mr. Sibblies for sending me the information on the project, the main goal of which is to promote the competitiveness and export of the agri-food industry in CARICOM member states. Since the first stage of the Single Market will involve the free trade of agricultural goods and services it is important that the various small and medium enterprises are equipped with the knowledge of compliance with food safety requirements, standards and trade rules without which access to regional and international markets would be hampered. The project intends to achieve this over a four-year period by implementing three components.
In the first component the project proposes to increase the awareness and knowledge of the stakeholders of these agribusiness enterprises about food safety and international standards. The second component will seek to strengthen their capacity to identify market access constraints and to articulate proposals in market access negotiations; while the third will provide technical assistance to improve market access opportunities and to establish a Caribbean Agribusiness Export Network (CABEX). The project will be implemented in nine CARICOM member states where chapters of CABA have been established. These are Antigua/Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, St. Lucia, St. Vincent & the Grenadines and Trinidad and Tobago.
AGRIBUSINESS ENTERPRISES
This is a very important project for small and medium agribusiness enterprises which have sought to expand beyond the domestic market but have been restricted by their inability to achieve export standards. In 2003 it was estimated that the agri-food industry accounts for 47.7 per cent of the employment and 19.3 per cent of all economic activities in the region. The Jamaican agri-processing sub-sector is a good example of opportunity not fully exploited. In the lucrative export market for ackees many of the processors are still not HACCP (Hazard Analysis at Critical Control Point Programme)-accredited which is a requirement by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Happily, there are some that were willing to make the huge investment in the necessary technology and are now being well rewarded. There are admittedly others with major constraints and this is where the CABA project can be of immense benefit. The postponement of the implementation of the CSME should hopefully not impact negatively on the activity of the project. And who knows, the extra time may very well be the window of opportunity the various entities need to make them ready when the right time comes.
Hugh Martin is a communication specialist and farm broadcaster.
