Damion Mitchell, Assistant News Editor

KINGSTOWN, St Vincent:

More Caribbean countries should capitalise on the downturn in the United States economy by boosting farm production, a regional agriculture minister said Wednesday.

Lawrence Cartwright, the agriculture minister for The Bahamas, says that approach could help to cushion a related fallout in the region.

According to Cartwright, this strategy is now being pursued by The Bahamas, which has been hit by the US economic twister manifested through a decline in the local construction, investment and tour-ism sectors.

"The cut in employment now is probably going to draw more of our construction workers into agriculture," said Cartwright, who is among regional agriculture ministers attending the eighth Caribbean Week of Agriculture conference under way in St Vincent and the Grenadines. "I see this as an opportunity to increase production of agricultural products."

More money

However, Cartwright says regional governments must give full support to the initiative because it will require more money to increase local agricultural production.

The Bahamas imports about 90 per cent of its food in an economy driven by tourism. There are approximately five million tourist arrivals in that country each year.

But with the figure expected to dip to four million this year as a result of the US financial crunch, Cartwright is adamant that the season is ripe to boost farm production.

Import of foreign produce

"Once we can produce the agricultural items, we have a market for them," he said, noting that im-port of foreign produce would naturally decline.

Every year, the region imports about US$3 billion worth of agricultural prod-uce, according to the Food and Agriculture Organisation.

Joanne Massiah, the agriculture minister for Antigua and Barbuda, agrees with Cart-wright. She said Antigua, which started a programme to increase local production several months ago, would intensify that project.

"I think this is really a wakeup call for the Caribbean," she said.

During the welcome ceremony for the Caribbean Week of Agriculture on Monday, Montgomery Daniel, the agriculture minister for St Vincent and the Grenadines, said, the region, already grappling with preferential price cuts and hurricane recovery, must deal with the effects of the US meltdown.

He said, however, this could mean less agricultural production in the region, because visitor arrivals from the US will be cut.