2006 Miami Conference

Reports

AGRIBUSINESS: INTEGRATION INTO A REGIONAL ECONOMY
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2006
2:00 – 4:30 PM

Moderators: Chelston Brathwaite, Director General, Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture

Discussants: Carmen Algeciras, Florida International University; Eduardo Almeida, TechnoServe; Ena Harvey, Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture; Bruce Lauckner, Caribbean Agriculture Research and Development Institute; Robert Persaud, Ministry of Agriculture (Guyana)

The Context:
Agribusiness, with all its vertical and horizontal linkages to other industry sectors, accounts for a quarter of the region’s GDP. It is important that we explore all of the possibilities of integrating agribusiness into the regional economy.

Challenge:

How can the region take advantage of these linkages to promote growth?
How can we diversify agricultural products to increase competitiveness?
Can agribusiness be used as a method of entrepreneurship and what are the national and regional market opportunities?
Does the solution lie in agro-tourism? What opportunities lie in agro-energy?
What policy issues must be addressed to create viable solutions for the agriculture sector?
What are the success stories in the region?

Points and comments brought up in the session:

Issues affecting agribusiness competitiveness:
- Competitiveness is still affected by old issues that the region has not solved
- Some of these issues are:
  - Inadequate financing and investment (local, national or foreign)
  - Lack of innovation, research and technology.
  - Traditional land ownership problems and rural larceny
  - Aging of the population devoted to agriculture
- Other more "modern" issues affecting agribusiness are:
  - Changes in the demography of agribusiness. Today more women and old people are involved and we need to find ways to convince young people of the benefits.
  - Existence of support measurements by developed countries, particularly the issue of subsidies.
  - Problems caused by market liberalization and trade agreements, including sanitary measurements and other technical compliance issues.
- Success stories:
  - Agro-tourism
  - Bio-energy
  - Production that is oriented to niche markets, including organic
  - Entrepreneurial training
  - Important research projects across the region
- Actions
  - Efforts to create an Entrepreneurial Revolution
  - Develop practical approaches to create and operate networks across the region
  - Define who is who and who does what
- Pending issues not discussed:
  - How do we build a road map to success?

Recommendations made:

Collaborate more and overcome tendencies to separate into individual nations and not work as one cohesive region with one cohesive goal.
Increase funding and commitment to Research and Development to make the industry more competitive in the global economy.
Define "principles of action" with the aim to significant impact investment and economic development.
Come together to devise a road map to success.