Carrington pleads for more investment in agri

Caricom Secretary-General Edwin Carrington says there needs to be a change in the region as regard investment in the agriculture sector as data has shown that when compared to other sectors agri-food investments are less active.

Carrington was speaking at the opening of the two-day Regional Agriculture Investment Forum at the International Convention Centre yesterday. The Secretary-General said that the less dynamic nature of investment in agricultural foods was due in part, to a generally unfavourable investment climate for agriculture relative to other economic sectors. He said the transformation of the sector would happen by diversifying agricultural production, intensifying agro-industrial development, expanding agri-businesses and generally conducting agricultural production on a market-oriented, internationally competitive and environmentally sound basis.