Farmers to gain access to expertise, financing opportunities at CWA 2026

Local farmers will have greater access to technical expertise, financing discussions and knowledge-sharing opportunities when the Caribbean Week of Agriculture (CWA) gets underway in Jamaica next week.

Agriculture, Fisheries and Mining Minister Floyd Green says “ordinary farmers” will be deliberately included in the 20th staging of the regional agricultural forum, which is expected to attract more than 800 delegates from 40 countries. Green said the conference has been structured to ensure that discussions are not limited to government officials, policymakers and private sector stakeholders. “We do have a number of ordinary farmers attending CWA, because one of the things that we're focused on is our technical sessions. And I've said to our farmers, one of the best things you can get is an expert telling you how to approach a problem from a data-driven basis,” he said. According to the minister, farmers will be able to participate in sessions where regional and international experts will provide data-driven guidance on tackling some of the challenges affecting agricultural production.

(From left) Operations Manager at International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), Brandon McFarlane; Director General of Jamaica Red Cross (JRC), Yvonne Clarke; JRC President, Allasandra Chung; Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Mining, Floyd Green; and Chief Technical Director Orville Palmer.

More than 70 technical sessions are planned across the six-day conference, including discussions on climate-smart agriculture, disaster resilience, agricultural financing, food security and investment. A day will also be dedicated specifically to farmers, while another will focus on youth. Green said regional delegations have been encouraged to bring farmers to Jamaica alongside technical experts, policymakers and entrepreneurs, creating opportunities for producers to learn directly from their counterparts across the Caribbean. But he said the exchange will not be one-sided. Jamaican farmers will also have an opportunity to showcase techniques and knowledge they have developed in their own communities, particularly in building resilience to difficult farming conditions. “Oftentimes, our ordinary farmers have built resilience in their own neck of the woods, using their own cultural knowledge, and we don’t take that for granted,” Green said. Some local farmers will therefore share their experiences with visiting producers, while tours are being organised to showcase areas in which Jamaica has developed expertise. Green pointed to the country’s poultry, egg, yam and tuber production, noting that visiting delegations have already expressed an interest in touring Jamaican yam farms to learn from local producers. Access to financing is another area in which Green believes farmers could ultimately benefit from the conference. He acknowledged that securing capital remains a major challenge for small farmers and said CWA will include discussions on unlocking financing for agricultural producers. The minister said the relatively small size of individual Caribbean financial markets means the region must look collectively at the problem and work with institutions such as the Caribbean Development Bank, the Food and Agriculture Organization and the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture. The aim, Green said, is for the conference to produce practical approaches that can increase access to capital for small farmers throughout the Caribbean. Green’s comments came as the Government continues efforts to provide financial support to farmers and other small operators recovering from recent challenges. He was speaking at a press briefing for a symbolic handover under a land-use recovery initiative involving the Jamaica Red Cross and the Ministry of Agriculture. The minister welcomed the $192-million investment expected to benefit 1,600 Jamaicans, providing support to 1,024 farmers, 320 fisherfolk and 256 microbusiness operators, with beneficiaries receiving direct cash grants to assist their agricultural and business activities. CWA 2026 is being held under the theme “The New F.A.C.E of Caribbean Food Systems”, focusing on food security, agribusiness development, climate-smart technologies and export expansion. Green said farmers must have a voice in those discussions, particularly as producers across the Caribbean contend with drought, hurricanes, rising temperatures and other pressures on agricultural production. He stressed that the Government does not want CWA to become another forum where problems are discussed without corresponding action. “As a region, we are very good at talking, but oftentimes we fall down on implementation. So out of this CWA, we will craft a definitive plan of action for the region in relation to what is really needed to grow this sector in the shortest possible time and to drive our food security, drive our agribusiness development, ensure we're including climate-smart technologies and expanding exports across the region to again tie back into regional food security,” Green said. He argued that the regional gathering is particularly important given the common challenges facing Caribbean agriculture, including climate vulnerability, dependence on food imports and constraints to investment and trade. “So the Caribbean Week of Agriculture, I close where I started, it matters, because all over the Caribbean, we’re grappling with all of these issues, climate vulnerability, food import dependence, constraints to investment and trade, and the need to produce more efficiently in an increasingly uncertain environment,” Green said. “Therefore, when the region comes to Jamaica next week, we’re not simply hosting another conference, but we’re bringing together the people and institutions with the capacity to shape our Caribbean agriculture response to these challenges.” Green said Jamaica would bring its own experience of recovering, rebuilding and adapting to agricultural challenges to the regional discussions, with the expectation that those lessons can contribute to practical solutions. “Our responsibility now is to use those experiences alongside our regional partners to help develop practical solutions that will make our farmers, our food systems and ultimately our region more resilient. “That is the opportunity that stands before us for CWA 2026, and that is a standard against which success must ultimately be measured. How do we truly transform our agricultural food systems across the region? I look forward to hosting our neighbours and our friends, and we are sure that the 20th staging of CWA will be the most memorable one,” he said.