BARBADOS’ agriculture and rural development minister Erskine Griffith has criticised preferential trading arrangements, saying they hamper the development of regional agriculture by creating a false sense of comfort among our producers and discouraging the development of value-added or niche products.

Speaking on Sunday at the Denbigh Agricultural and Industrial Show in Clarendon, Griffith said that the preferential trading agreements which were now being phased out had left the region’s agriculture ill-equipped and unprepared to compete within the competitive trading environment of an emerging globalisation.

Citing the example of sugar, Griffith noted that the United Kingdom, for example, bought raw sugar from the Caribbean, processed it into refined sugar and then re-exported it to the region.

“Although regional producers would have benefited from stable prices under these preferential arrangements, such arrangements generally did not facilitate the development of value-added products or the use of newer technologies and methods, but shielded the agricultural sectors from regional and international competition.

“Today. the agricultural sectors in the region are experiencing some of the negative effects of preferential trading arrangements over the years. We are uncertain as to whether preferences will remain and if so, what form they will take.

“In addition, the region must now deal with the rapid pace of globalisation as well as multilateral, hemispheric and bi-lateral trade negotiations, where there are increasing demands for the liberalisation of the sector.

“Furthermore, the establishment of the Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME) and increasing competition for scarce resources such as land. labour, capital and resources such as water are issues that must be addressed by individual Caribbean states, as well as collectively within the Caricom grouping,” said Griffith.

An example of the fallout caused by the ending of preferential trade, Griffith continued, was the announcement that the European Union (EU) intended to reduce sugar prices by an overall 37 per cent by 2006.

“Since the economies in the region depend heavily on these traditional exports for foreign exchange earnings, it is clear that any reforms that threaten or dilute the effects of these preferential arrangements will have detrimental consequences for our producers,” Griffith said, noting that one consequence was a shift away from agriculture towards service industries such as tourism.

The minister also noted that the creation of the World Trade Organisation and the conclusion of the Agreement on Agriculture in the Uruguay Round negotiations resulted in fundamental changes to the manner in which the agricultural sectors in the region could operate.