CORAL SPRING, Trelawny – Agriculture Minister Floyd Green has challenged Caribbean governments to leave the 20th staging of Caribbean Week of Agriculture (CWA) with a concrete action plan to strengthen the region’s food security, warning that another round of discussions without implementation would do little to address mounting vulnerabilities.

“The true measure of CWA 2026 will not be the quality of our conversations here in Jamaica, but what follows,” he told delegates during Sunday night’s opening ceremony at Ocean Coral Spring in Trelawny.

One area of priority, the agriculture minister suggested, should be a move to establish a regional blended financing facility capable of unlocking capital for small farmers across the Caribbean. Such a mechanism, he argued, would give producers greater capacity to expand operations, invest in technology, and improve productivity.

Green also wants the Caribbean to build greater capacity to manufacture its own agricultural inputs, arguing that food security remains vulnerable when farmers depend heavily on supplies originating outside the region. He identified organic fertiliser as one area in which regional production could be expanded and called for a coordinated framework to address agricultural imports.

The minister also demanded action on the long-standing problem of moving agricultural goods around the Caribbean, saying increased production will have limited value if farmers cannot efficiently access regional markets. He called for closer alignment of shipping and logistics arrangements, as well as sanitary and phytosanitary requirements to facilitate the movement of agricultural commodities between countries.

The issue is especially important for Jamaica, where Hurricane Melissa caused about $39 billion in damage to the agricultural sector last year, Green said. He noted that the subsequent recovery demonstrated the resilience of Jamaican farmers but also exposed weaknesses in the food system as the sector moved from severe shortages to periods of oversupply. That experience, Green said, highlighted the need for better coordination between production and markets, while strengthening the region’s ability to withstand increasingly frequent climate-related disruptions.

“We are in the region that is most vulnerable to climate shocks and, as such, the new face of Caribbean food systems must ultimately deliver a more resilient agricultural sector across the region,” he said.

Green, therefore, placed climate-smart technology among the critical outcomes for CWA 2026, pointing to existing solutions that can improve water efficiency, increase productivity, make better use of data, and reduce the impact of extreme weather on farmers. He said the challenge is no longer simply discovering such solutions, but ensuring that successful approaches are shared and implemented at scale across the region.

Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries Floyd Green speaking during Sunday night’s opening ceremony of the 20th Caribbean Week of Agriculture at Ocean Coral Spring Hotel in Trelawny. (Photo: Horace Hines)

Green acknowledged that Caribbean countries have already established several mechanisms aimed at modernising agriculture, including the regional agricultural strategy endorsed by agriculture ministers in 2024, which places youth at the centre of production, productivity, and innovation. He also cited developments since CWA 2025, including the Regional Trade Enhancement Mechanism, the Caricom e-Agriculture Strategy, the e-Agriculture Implementation Committee, and the Regional Electronic Agricultural Marketing Information System. But he said those initiatives must now move decisively from policy to execution.

The minister stressed that transformation could not be delivered by governments alone, but would require coordinated participation from farmers, fisher folk, private-sector interests, financial institutions, researchers, and development partners.

CWA 2026 includes more than 80 technical sessions, high-level plenary discussions, ministerial meetings, business engagements, exhibitions, and trade activities.

Green said those engagements should be used to establish practical partnerships and commitments capable of producing results beyond the conference.

“The Caribbean has tremendous agricultural potential. We have the people, we have the knowledge, we have the innovation,” he said.

“We have to deepen our cooperation. Realising the potential will require sustained investment, stronger regional cooperation, and above all, implementation. We do talk a lot, but we must implement more,” he added.

— HORACE HINES