In the Caribbean, where research reports and policy documents show that most nations import over 80 percent of their food, grocery bills are a constant source of collective anxiety. Inflation has only deepened this burden. Supply chain disruptions, from pandemics and port closures to wars and climate disasters, have sent food prices soaring, laying bare the region’s vulnerability to global market shocks.
Efforts to reverse this trend have fallen short.
In 2021, CARICOM pledged to reduce regional food imports by 25 per cent by 2025. That target now seems unattainable.
“COVID was right at the start of that plan… So that was a problem,” said Saint Lucia’s Agriculture Minister, Alfred Prospere, at a recent press briefing. He said factors such as high input costs, labour shortages, natural disasters and a lack of crop insurance derailed progress.
Despite setbacks, regional leaders are regrouping with a new target of 2030 and a renewed sense of urgency. But for Saint Lucia to make real gains, it will have to overcome deep-rooted cultural, economic and logistical obstacles to reduce its food import bill, which as of 2023, was about EC$1.5 billion, according to data from the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank’s (ECCB) Food Import Bill Tracker.
The problem of consistency
One barrier is the inconsistency and quality of local food production, according to Vanessa, a small-scale farmer and agricultural consultant who requested anonymity to speak freely.
“You have people who are in it who are actually making money, and these are the more established, bigger farms who probably have contracts with hotels,” she said. “Now the hotels will tell you that their issue with local production can be the consistency as well as sometimes the quality of the local product.”
As a result, hotels often turn to imported produce, which is more predictable, even if more expensive.
Chemical dependence and low investment
Vanessa says food quality can be negatively affected by how a farmer grows crops. Quite a few still rely heavily on chemical inputs because they’re cheaper and more familiar. But she believes Saint Lucia needs to make the leap towards more sustainable organic practices.
“To transition to having better quality food, you need a set of people who can really produce the inputs for those farmers who want to go organic,” she said. “You also need tried and tested methods that prove you can make a living doing it.”
That kind of transformation requires long-term investment, not just in farms, but in technical personnel who can guide farmers through the change. Right now, that support is minimal.
Culture and the decline of cooperatives
There’s also a cultural challenge: some farmers are wary of change.
“One farmer came out and clearly told me, ‘If you’re telling me that I can go organic and my production will be the same, I don’t have a problem with that. But my problem is I do not want to change from what I’m making my living off of to go and do this thing that I don’t know if it’s going to work’,” Vanessa recalled.
Another casualty of this hesitation is the farmer cooperative model, which once helped smaller farmers pool resources and negotiate better prices. Vanessa cited the Belle Vue Farmers’ Cooperative as a shining example before it faded.
“There were a lot of these groups,” she said. “They would have agreements with hotels and other buyers. The farmers would bring their produce to the cooperative, which would distribute and pay them based on what was sold.”
At its peak, she noted, the co-op had its own inputs shop and offered activities to help farmers boost production. But it and others like it operate at a reduced capacity over time due to what she described as interpersonal conflicts and weak group dynamics.
“Our society doesn’t know well how to work together as a group,” she said.
Filling the gaps
In recent years, new models have begun to emerge. Vanessa highlighted the work of Helen’s Daughters, an initiative founded by Keithlin Caroo-Afrifa to support female farmers with technical and marketing support, wellness resources and even communal land access.
“Helen’s Daughters is a source of technical support, marketing through networking and farmers’ markets, camaraderie and mentoring, and also holistic development, like psychosocial support,” Vanessa said. “And it’s these types of support that are needed to help reduce the food import bill.”
Labour and land shortages
But land, and the people to farm it, remain scarce resources.
“Farmers who are established, fine, not a problem,” Vanessa said. “Farmers who are not yet established have to get land.”
Helen’s Daughters is working on that too, aiming to secure communal plots for its members. Still, without enough willing farm workers, production lags.
“You have to get people to work the land, people that you can rely on,” Vanessa added. “And, you know, people have gotten lazy.”
At the secondary school level, the disinterest is already setting in. An agriculture teacher at a local school said she sees students shrug off the subject entirely.
“You often get responses like ‘We are not being paid to do this’, or ‘That’s hard work, the sun is too hot’, or ‘I did not bring a change of clothes for the farm’ or, ‘I don’t want to put my hand in dirt’,” she said.
Some students show early interest, but it doesn’t always blossom into a full-time career.
The teacher believes students do not explore the full breadth of opportunities in agriculture – from drone technology and agri-processing to water management and soil engineering. And even when there’s interest, the financial support isn’t always there.
“Some lack financing,” she said. “The available scholarship opportunities may not be in the field of interest, or the number of scholarships is limited.”
Moving forward
Despite challenges, Prospere says the Ministry of Agriculture has a new food production plan in place which spans short-, medium-, and long-term goals, though details are thin. The plan includes the second phase of a partnership with the Taiwan Technical Mission, known as the Seven Crop Project, which promotes the production of crops like soursop, squash, corn, eggplant, and dragon fruit.
In the meantime, officials are encouraging citizens to start small or very small. Prospere urged backyard gardening as a way to build resilience at the household level.
“With whatever small space you have in your backyard,” he said, “go into some production, whether it’s lettuce, tomatoes, cabbage. We need to work together to enhance our food security.”
Vanessa echoed the call, though she acknowledged the challenges of modern life with most people working full-time jobs.
“You come back [home], you’re so tired, you feel like you don’t have time to take care of your garden,” she said. “But it might be a little way to start. You produce your chives, your parsley … sustain something. So at least you reduce the need for buying food, and also for importing food.”
