Damion Mitchell, News Coordinator - Radio

The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) has applied for membership in the Common Fund for Commodities (CFC).

If approved, CARICOM countries will be able to obtain money in loans and grants to finance agricultural development projects.

Speaking at the sixth annual Caribbean Week of Agriculture in Nassau, Bahamas last week, Ambassador Ali Mchumo, managing director of the CFC, said the application is to be heard at the institution's next board meeting in November.

According to the ambassador, at present more than 85 per cent of CFC funds are disbursed in grants with the remainder being provided in loans. He also said CARICOM's application for membership in the CFC would trigger other individual Caribbean countries to do the same.

According to him, many developing countries are dependent on commodities for more than half of their export earnings. "In many Caribbean countries, three or four commodities represent the main source of export earnings, government revenues and deployment," said Ambassador Mchumo.

He also told delegates at the Caribbean Week of Agriculture that of the 84 projects currently benefiting from the CFC, eight are located in the Caribbean including Trinidad and Tobago, Haiti and Jamaica.

Agricultural products

The projects valued at more than US$35 million relate to cocoa, banana, cassava and sugar.

However, the fund provides support for 60 different agricultural products with focus on cultivation, research and marketing.

Meanwhile, Caribbean Agriculture Ministers are considering a regional agriculture modernisation fund to assist with the repositioning of the sector. It has also been suggested that the fund would support the proposals under the Jagdeo Initiative.

The initiative was arrived at in 2004 at a CARICOM heads of government meeting when President of Guyana Bharrat Jagdeo was mandated to develop a programme for the repositioning of the region's agri-sector.

But Caribbean agriculture ministers have been criticised for failing to advance the process.

Director of Caribbean Operations at the Inter-American for Cooperation on Agriculture, Dr. Arlington Chesney, says careful considerations are being made regarding the contributions to the proposed modernisation fund:

"My own feelings are that countries are already burdened by a lot of funds and if we depend solely on governments we will not get anything into the fund," he said, adding that a consultant hired to spearhead its establishment will be seeking to identify sources outside of the coffers of regional governments.

Details of the proposed agriculture modernisation fund should be finalised before a regional finance conference next year.