Chief Executive Officer and Technical Director of the CARICOM Private Sector Organization (CPSO), Dr. Patrick Antoine, on July 16th, 2024, chaired a high-level meeting between Mr. Jason Dunn, Commercialization Manager of Plant & Food Research (PFR), New Zealand, and Mr. Joe Pires, Managing Director of Caribbean Chemicals & Agencies Ltd, a leading Caribbean supplier of agricultural inputs, headquartered in Trinidad and Tobago.

The meeting discussed a partnership to provide for the processing of Sargassum into key agricultural inputs, bio-stimulants, and compost that could significantly enhance crop productivity. Sargassum poses a threat to the marine life, tourism, and well-being of virtually all Caribbean countries. This partnership will provide for the commencement of scaled trials using bio-stimulants from Sargassum on various crops in farmers’ fields starting in Trinidad and Tobago.

This partnership between PFR and Caribbean Chemicals builds on a previously signed MoU between the Caribbean Regional Fisheries Mechanism (CRFM) and the CPSO, which aims at fostering collaboration among regional public and private sector institutions in providing solutions which can be ‘scaled up’ in solving critical agricultural development challenges for CARICOM.

The CPSO’s role in this coalition was to successfully secure a credible, experienced, and respected commercial partner with presence across the Community, and to coordinate the legal and other aspects of the collaboration among the parties.

In the photo from left are Mr. Joe Pires, Managing Director of Caribbean Chemicals & Agencies Ltd; Mr. Jason Dunn, Commercialization Manager of Plant & Food Research, New Zealand; CPSO Consultant, Dr. Arlington Chesney; and CPSO CEO and Technical Director, Dr. Patrick Antoine.

The CARICOM Private Sector Organization (CPSO) is today commending the relief response by the regional private sector as support continues to pour in for the CARICOM States of Grenada, St Vincent and the Grenadines, and Jamaica which were impacted by the passage of Hurricane Beryl. The ongoing response effort has already resulted in several shipments with critical relief and aid provisions from the private sector leaving Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, Barbados, Antigua and Barbuda, Belize, Saint Lucia, Dominica, and other countries.

Chief Executive Officer and Technical Director of the CPSO, Dr Patrick Antoine, in a review of ongoing efforts, lauded the overwhelming response of the regional private sector.

Dr. Antoine, in an update to a virtual meeting of the Caribbean Development Partners Group (CDPG) hosted by the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) earlier this week, stated, “The support we have been able to muster across CARICOM has been important. Everyone has been onboard and working seamlessly in solidarity, and the aid provided to date has been critical. This support will continue to be critical in the coming days as emergency response organizations assess and update the needs requirements for the impacted countries. We urge the private sector to continue for as long as possible to help our brothers and sisters across the Region recover and rebuild.”

The collaboration by the private sector across the Region speaks volumes to what can be accomplished when resources are joined toward a common cause. By working together, the private sector has shown the strength and resourcefulness of ‘the collective’. This spirit of collaboration will auger well for advancing the collaboration and cooperation on the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME).
The CPSO continues to partner in the relief and recovery response with CDEMA, Governments, and regional and national Business Support Organizations (BSOs).

ABOUT THE CPSO
The CARICOM Private Sector Organization (CPSO) is the most recently accredited Associate Institution of the Caribbean Community. The CPSO is a ‘Service Organization’ to mobilize and advance private sector participation in CARICOM, with a mandate to contribute to the full implementation of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME). The Membership of the CPSO is comprised of private sector entities operating in the CARICOM space, including Micro, Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (MSMEs).

For further information, please contact the CPSO Secretariat at: info@thecpso.org

Official Press Release: CPSO Press Statement – The CPSO applauds the announcement by H.E. President Irfaan Ali, of the reduction in the interest rate for poultry farmers, as a significant step toward achieving CARICOM’s 25% x 2025

The CARICOM Private Sector Organization (CPSO) applauds the announcement by H.E. Dr. Mohammed Irfaan Ali, President of the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, of the reduction in the cost of financing among other measures extended to poultry farmers in Guyana. Poultry meat is among the nineteen (19) agri-food opportunities highlighted in the Region’s Twenty-Five by Twenty-Five (25% x 2025) goals for extra-regional import displacement, endorsed by the CARICOM Heads of Government (CHoGs). This initiative, announced by President Ali, properly addresses the critical issues of the ‘cost of finance’ and the ‘cost of feed’, which have been two major concerns of farmers and processors, in Guyana and across the Community. Measures to increase rice, corn, and soy production as key inputs to poultry feed, were among the interventions announced by President Ali.

According to the analytical work undertaken by the CPSO, the CARICOM poultry industry, including in Guyana, can potentially displace extra-regional imports of poultry meat into CARICOM markets valued at US $149.0 million per year. Successful import displacement will require urgent domestic policy reforms, inter alia, reducing the cost of capital and reliable access to feed at stable prices. The initiatives announced by President Ali are therefore concrete steps towards meeting these requirements. In addition to much needed domestic policy support, the most critical ‘policy shift’ that remains is for CARICOM Member States to create or allow the emergence of a ‘genuine single regional market’ for poultry meat, that provides equal market access by all poultry meat producers to all CSME markets. Relative comparisons of the market access for poultry meat imports into CARICOM Member States demonstrate wide variations in the Common External Tariff (CET) and market access. According to the CPSO’s work, such variations in the import market access among Member States, highlight the scope for the possible introduction of a CARICOM-wide Tariff Rate Quota (TRQ) regime, underpinned by a harmonized CET, the removal of remaining Non-Tariff Barriers (NTBs), adherence to the CARICOM Poultry Standard and a CARICOM Sanitary and Phyto Sanitary (SPS) regime. According to initial work by the CPSO, under these conditions, if CARICOM Members introduced a TRQ regime for poultry meat, intra-regional imports could substantially displace imports from extra-regional sources.

The announcement by President Ali of interest rate reductions to poultry farmers and expansion in crop production as an adjunct to poultry feed, positions Guyana and other CARICOM producers to potentially become ‘net exporters’ of poultry meat to CARICOM markets within the construct of a harmonized CARICOM single market for poultry meat. Instructively, Guyana, along with Belize, already maintains low levels of poultry meat imports.

Having regard to the difficult food insecurity situation confronting 57% of CARICOM populations, and the increasingly challenging global food supply situation, the CPSO praises the timeliness of the announcement by President Ali, as an infusion of much-needed confidence to CARICOM agri-food systems. In endorsing the significance of the announcement by President Ali as Lead Head with responsibility for Agriculture, the CPSO recognizes the acceleration in the pace of extra-regional import displacement that could occur, if other CARICOM Member States introduce similar measures in accordance with their financial circumstances. The initiatives announced for Guyana, can also spur closer collaboration and ‘scaling-up’ among the regional poultry industry, particularly, Barbados, Belize, Guyana, Jamaica, and Trinidad and Tobago, among others.

Official Press Release: CPSO Press Statement – FOPNL CARICOM Consumer Food Choice Survey

The CARICOM Private Sector Organization (CPSO), along with the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretariat, and the Caribbean Agricultural Health and Food Safety Agency (CAHFSA), is pleased to announce the launch of the CARICOM Consumer Food Choice Survey on 2nd February 2022.

The Survey is an important component of the Study – “CARICOM Impact Assessment Study: Determination of an Appropriate Front of Packaging Nutrition Labelling (FoPNL) Scheme and the Identification of a Harmonized Approach for Implementation” and examines consumer food choices to arrive at a better understanding of how different labelling schemes impact on consumer food purchasing behaviour. The 52nd Ministerial Meeting of the Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED) held in June 2021, approved the Study.

Front of Package Nutritional Labelling (FOPNL) has been at the forefront of discussions among CARICOM Member States and key Stakeholders, over the last three and a half years. Stakeholders have been focused on the need to implement a FOPNL model that assists CARICOM consumers to make more informed decisions about the healthy purchasing of pre-packaged foods. Consumers across the Caribbean Community are encouraged to participate in the Consumer Food Choice Survey, which can be accessed via the following link:

https://www.caribbeansurveys.com/consumer-food-choice/

The Project Steering Committee, comprising the CARICOM Secretariat, the CPSO and CAHFSA, has announced that the Survey will also be accessible on the websites and the social media pages of their respective Institutions. The Survey will be open from 2nd – 16th February 2022. The Study – “CARICOM Impact Assessment Study: Determination of an Appropriate Front of Packaging Nutrition Labelling (FoPNL) Scheme and the Identification of a Harmonized Approach for Implementation” will be completed by the 28th February 2022.

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