Caribbean heads of government recently met in a two-day regional Agricultural Investment Forum to discuss the rising cost of food and the crisis it presents the region.
James Moss-Solomon, a Jamaican businessman who headed the planning task force for the forum said “there has been no other time in recent Caribbean memory when such a concerted effort has been made to grow more food.” As the region pours more resources into growing more food the future looks bright for agricultural investments in the fertile land of the Caribbean.
In fact the overall global trend in the price for agricultural land has shown a sharp and continuing increase. For example, in 2007, the price for farmland in Iowa, USA was, for the first time, rising faster than property in Manhattan! This shift in the cost of land is occurring from Argentina to Australia and is signaling an increase in rural rather than urban development.
The focus of agricultural investment is diverse and includes small to large scale farms, agro-processing and even ecotourism developments. In the Caribbean, small-scale ecolodges that produce most of their food on site present a fantastic investment opportunity and they are a great educative tool for the local and visiting community on the importance of sustainable agriculture. One of the key results of the recent regional forum is that commercial banks are more willing to support these investments than they may have done in the past.
Additionally, a lot of interest is being shown in the region by individuals who want to secure land for their own sustainable and self-sufficient lifestyle. And so from small personal holdings to large commercial farms the Caribbean region is alive with a new wave of investment in agriculture.
