CaRAPN - Caribbean Regional Agriculture Policy Network

Executive Summary

The commitment and goals to establish a Community Agricultural Policy are enshrined in Chapter Four, Part Two of the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas. This represents a signicant step towards realising the economic and political benefits of regional cooperation.  As stated, the overarching goal of the community agriculture policy speaks to a fundamental transformation of agriculture towards market-oriented, internationally competitive and environmentally sound production of agricultural products.

Implementing the CSME Community Agricultural Policy (CCAP) - Issues, Options, Process

“..regional agricultural policy can provide countries with a solid framework for designing and implementing actions that take full advantage of the traditional benefits of integration, including the development of an integrated market ………”

Central American Agricultural Policy, 2008-2017,

ISBN 13 978-92-9039-898-1, San Jose, Costa Rica, 2008

St. Vincent and the Grenadines, like most other Caribbean countries have a deep-seated tradition in agriculture and fisheries. The importance of agriculture is seen in its contribution to GDP, foreign exchange earnings, domestic income, and employment - particularly in the rural sector.

Agriculture, including fishing and logging, along with other traditional resource based industries such as bauxite, oil and gold are the major components of the Suriname economy. Suriname’s agricultural sector is dominated by rice and vegetables, bananas and plantains, coconuts and citrus. Rice accounts for about half of all cultivated lands and is exported duty-free within the CARICOM area and enters the EU under the Cotonou preferential trade. The banana industry, the second most important crop, has been affected since 1997 by the uncertainty about the future of the EU preferential policies and by management, financial, marketing and technological problems.