Agriculture Experts – By Kisean Joseph
Agriculture Experts Outline Challenges
Antigua and Barbuda’s bold plan to reduce food imports by 15 percent under the CARICOM “25 by 30” initiative faces significant structural challenges that must be addressed before the goal can be achieved, according to two veteran agriculture experts.
Jennifer Maynard, a retired civil servant who served as Director of Agriculture and pioneered the establishment of the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation in Agriculture (IICA) office in Antigua and Barbuda, and Astley Joseph, an animal scientist who served as Deputy Director of Agriculture from 2010 to 2016, outlined fundamental concerns during a discussion on Observer Radio’s Big Issues program.
The CARICOM initiative, which originally aimed to reduce imports by 25 percent by 2025, has been extended to 2030. Antigua and Barbuda has set a more modest target of 15 percent reduction, focusing on specific commodities including onions, tomatoes, sweet peppers, cassava, sweet potato, sheep, and swine.
According to Cabinet notes, the initiative requires approximately 78 additional acres of crop production and an increase of 1,200 head of livestock, representing an estimated import substitution value of $1.67 million.
Maynard raised pointed questions about why Antigua and Barbuda failed to participate in the original 2020-2025 initiative while other Caribbean territories made progress.
“What are the factors that prevented us getting on board between 20 and 25? And how do those factors exist today in 26 to 30? Have they been identified clearly? And what’s in place to address them?” Maynard queried.
She emphasized that without addressing fundamental constraints, “we are going to be spinning top in mud”.
Maynard proposed a comprehensive framework that requires attention to four critical areas: improving production efficiency and reducing losses from pests and disease; optimizing post-harvest management, including storage, sorting, and packaging; developing structured marketplace mechanisms beyond the current haphazard approach; and coordinating planting cycles across producers to avoid supply gluts and droughts.
“You can have the case where everybody is planting tomatoes,” Maynard illustrated. “So we now have nine [packets of seeds] planted at the same time. And so we are harvesting the yield of nine packets somewhere down the road. So we have the glut.”
Joseph, drawing on 2009 production figures, revealed that Antigua and Barbuda was producing only about one-third of its beef consumption, with local production at 317,625 pounds and imports at 900,000 pounds annually. The disparity was even more pronounced for pork, with local production at 331,000 pounds and imports exceeding 1 million pounds.
“At the time when we were doing that, we had sufficient animals on the ground to produce more, to produce all that we need with a surplus,” Joseph said. “So there again – organization and management needed to come into place.”
Land scarcity presents a particular challenge for cattle production, though Joseph identified sheep, goats, pigs, and poultry as more viable expansion areas given current constraints.
Both experts identified critical infrastructure deficiencies, including poor farm roads, limited pest management support, absence of cold storage facilities, and many acres of agricultural land lost to housing development in some areas over the past two years.
Maynard highlighted the ongoing failure to implement a farmer registration system as a critical gap that enables theft and undermines legitimate production. She proposed a simple numbering system, similar to medical licensing, to ensure that only registered farmers can sell produce commercially.
“For five years now, you keep on hearing about farmer registration, she said, but the system remains too complicated to implement.
Both experts emphasized that agricultural extension officers lack basic resources, including transportation, communication equipment, training facilities, and budgets to effectively support farmers.
“If they don’t give them what is necessary, we might as well accept that it will be 3 percent by 2030,” Maynard warned.
Despite the challenges, Joseph maintained that the goals are achievable with proper planning and farmer engagement. “What is proposed is achievable – can be done – but I say we need to plan it properly, get everybody involved, and get especially the farmers,” Joseph said.
