KINGSTON, Jamaica — The World Bank Group (WBG) in collaboration with the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) has launched the AgriConnect initiative to expand rural connectivity, digital inclusion and the integration of family farmers into markets locally.

Worldwide, the initiative aims to support up to 300 million smallholder farmers by 2030, promoting the transition from subsistence models to more productive agricultural enterprises. The implementation of the project in Jamaica is part of a global strategy by the World Bank Group to drive the transformation of the agrifood sector.

Minister of Agriculture Floyd Green, who was speaking at the launch, said AgriConnect is a major opportunity for the country. He explained that the philosophy of the World Bank initiative, supported by IICA, is aligned with the path Jamaica is currently pursuing to build a more resilient, modern and inclusive agricultural sector.

Also present at the launch were Lilia Burunciuc, World Bank director for Caribbean countries, and Kent Coipel, IICA representative in Jamaica, who reaffirmed the alliance between the hemispheric organisation and the World Bank and its commitment to strengthening Caribbean agriculture. Also in attendance were Benoît Bosquet, director for Sustainable Development for Latin America and the Caribbean at the World Bank, and Agriculture and Food Practice Manager for Latin America and the Caribbean, Diego Arias.

On behalf of IICA, Coipel emphasised that the institute has a long track record of working with small and medium-sized farmers and supporting the development of value chains across the Caribbean, with a special focus on capacity building, export training and market linkages.

“Strengthening the organisational capacity of rural communities is a fundamental pillar of IICA’s technical cooperation,” he said.

Meanwhile, President of the College of Agriculture, Science and Education (CASE), Derrick Deslandes and Jacqueline Sharp, director of a family business engaged in coffee production, local marketing and export, highlighted pathways to improve farmers’ access to markets and more efficiently integrate food value chains.

Strategies to facilitate small producers’ access to new technologies, and the new frontiers of science and technology in Jamaican agriculture, were the focus of another exchange that yielded important lessons.

Participants included World Bank specialist Winston Daes; Aura Cifuentes, director for Latin America and the Caribbean at Co-Develop; and Arturo Ramírez, technical director of Isratech Jamaica Limited, a company providing agricultural solutions in areas such as water management and alternative energy generation to fossil fuels.

IICA is one of the international organisations supporting the initiative of its partner, the World Bank, in the Americas, along with financial institutions, private sector representatives, foundations, and knowledge partners.

Globally, AgriConnect has an estimated annual financing of US$9 billion, with the potential to mobilise an additional US$5 billion in investments, strengthening innovation, financing, and service ecosystems geared toward agriculture.

The initiative was conceived, as explained, after a group of experts convened by the World Bank identified the agricultural and agribusiness sector as one of the five sectors globally with the greatest potential to absorb young people entering the labour market.