CORAL SPRING, Trelawny — Belize’s Agriculture Minister Rodwell Ferguson has challenged a deeply rooted Caribbean mindset that equates foreign-made goods with quality, arguing that the region’s push for food security will mean little if consumers and businesses remain reluctant to buy products made by their regional neighbours.

Ferguson said the region must change its attitude towards locally made products and improve the shipping links needed to move food between Caribbean countries.

“The mentality needs to be changed,” he argued on Monday, the second day of Caribbean Week of Agriculture 2026 at Ocean Coral Spring Hotel in Trelawny.

The Belizean Government official argued that regional food security depends on greater support for Caribbean products, increased agricultural production and more efficient transportation.

Belize’s Agriculture Minister Rodwell Ferguson speaking, Monday, during the second day of Caribbean Week of Agriculture 2026 at Ocean Coral Spring Hotel in Trelawny.

Ferguson said consumers and businesses must abandon the belief that goods made in the United States, Europe or China are automatically better than those produced in the Caribbean.

He pointed to Jamaica’s product packaging as an example of how local producers can improve the presentation of their goods and influence consumer perception.

“I need to acknowledge Minister [of Agriculture Floyd] Green. When I opened my package this morning, Sir, that was sent to us as a gift, your labelling was very attractive,” Ferguson said.

“If we can follow suit, then the people in the region will recognise that the people in the Caribbean can also produce what they produce in China and the USA,” he added.

Ferguson argued that the Caribbean had spent decades exporting raw agricultural commodities while importing finished products, losing much of the value that could have been created through processing.

He said Belize began addressing this around 1990 by investing in agro-processing, and he credited the Mennonite community with helping to develop the country’s capacity to produce and process agricultural goods. Belize has since achieved self-sufficiency in rice, beans, corn, chicken, soybeans and other products, Ferguson said. That capacity proved vital during the COVID-19 pandemic, when the country was able to feed itself. But he stressed that increased production alone will not secure the region’s food supply.

He cited the absence of a direct shipping route between Belize and some Caribbean nations, explaining that goods may have to travel through Jamaica before reaching some markets within the region, such as Barbados. He said such logistical challenges make Caribbean products less competitive against imports from outside.

Ferguson called for more efficient shipping services and urged agriculture ministers to find practical solutions during their discussions at the conference. He acknowledged that improving regional transportation could be expensive but said the issue must be addressed if the Caribbean is serious about achieving food security.

He also questioned whether Caribbean countries were making full use of existing regional integration arrangements.

Despite the Caribbean Community (Caricom) and the Caricom Single Market and Economy (CSME), he said regional trade remained below its potential. Countries, he argued, must recognise their shared interests and work together to strengthen food security.

Ferguson said Belize was well positioned to supply agricultural products to both Caribbean and Central American markets, even as logistical barriers continue to affect the competitiveness of those products.

“We are fortunate that Belize is part of the Caribbean and, likewise, part of Central America. So we have two areas that we can work with,” he said.

“Belize can send many products, but again, maybe the end result, the price could be a bit expensive because of logistics. We can sort it out. We can definitely come to our best possible solution,” he added.

He maintained that stronger regional cooperation could help address these challenges and allow Caribbean countries to make greater use of their agricultural capacity.

Ferguson was speaking during the plenary session, “Achieving the Region’s Vision 2025+5 Initiative: The Roadmap for Regional Food Security and Food Systems Transformation”.

The session was moderated by David Pendergast, director of sectoral programmes at the Caricom Secretariat. Other participants included Jamaica’s Agriculture Minister Floyd Green; director general of the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture Muhammad Ibrahim; Barbados’s Agriculture and Food Security Minister Shantal Munro-Knight; St Lucia’s Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Security Minister Lisa Jawahir; and assistant director general and regional representative for Latin America and the Caribbean at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations Rene Orellana Halkyer.