As CARICOM forges ahead with the implementation of its food security initiative, it has activated a key component – the CARICOM E-Agriculture Strategy – to modernise the sector through digital innovation.
The Strategy supports CARICOM’s flagship 25 x 2025+5 food security initiative, which aims to significantly reduce the Region’s food import bill while promoting sustainable, locally driven food systems. This new approach will allow for the electronic sharing of marketing information and the online marketing of goods across the Region.
This modernisation of agricultural trade will ensure that producers, buyers, and consumers have greater access to real-time information, creating more efficient markets and opening new opportunities for regional agribusiness.
The E-Agriculture Strategy focuses on the use of artificial intelligence, mobile platforms, and smart farming tools to bolster agricultural productivity, strengthen climate resilience, and expand market access for farmers across the Region.
However, Dr. Carla Barnett, CARICOM Secretary-General noted that the Strategy is not only about technology. “It is about people. It is about creating the conditions for every farmer whether in a coastal community in Saint Lucia or a rural village in Guyana to access the tools, knowledge, and support needed to thrive in a digital age,” she observed in her foreword to the Strategy.
Anchored in six strategic pillars, the initiative places emphasis on expanding rural connectivity, advancing precision agriculture, enabling digital financial services, building digital skills, promoting e-commerce, and strengthening policy and governance frameworks.
It focuses specifically on youth, women, and agri-entrepreneurs, and seeks to unlock new economic opportunities and position agriculture as a modern, innovative, and attractive sector.
Paired with other decisions of the 121st Special COTED such as the Agreement on the Pre-Clearance Mechanism for Goods and Agreement on Regional Risk Analysis, the E-Agriculture Strategy will enable smoother, more efficient trade flows between Member States, while strengthening the framework for agricultural development across the Region.
