Representatives of OECS states at the special meeting of the Council of Ministers for Agriculture.
MONTEGO BAY, Jamaica--The Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) Council of Ministers for Agriculture has called for faster implementation of regional food security initiatives, warning that the region must reduce its dependence on external food supplies and improve trade among member states.
The call came during the Council’s Third Special Meeting on September 30 at Ocean Coral Springs Resort in Jamaica, held on the margins of the 2026 Caribbean Week of Agriculture. The meeting also marked the transfer of the Council’s chairmanship from Montserrat to St. Kitts and Nevis.
OECS Director General Dr. Didacus Jules said food self-reliance was essential to national sovereignty, particularly amid global trade uncertainty and external economic shocks.
“A nation can defer a constitutional reform or postpone a highway. It cannot postpone dinner,” Jules said, stressing that the region’s main vulnerability was the gap between policy commitments and implementation.
He outlined five priorities under the OECS Food and Agriculture Systems Transformation (FAST) Strategy: setting firm deadlines for decisions, using collective purchasing power, establishing regional maritime shipping corridors, harmonising agricultural and food safety standards, and protecting essential production resources such as seeds, soil, water and pollinators.
Outgoing Council Chairman John P. Osbourne, Montserrat’s Minister for Agriculture, Lands, Housing, Environment, Youth Affairs and Sports, also urged member states to meet their financial and institutional obligations to the OECS Commission.
Reflecting on his tenure, Osbourne highlighted water resilience, climate-smart infrastructure, protected agriculture and improved inter-island trade logistics. He also pointed to opportunities for private-sector ferry services to transport both passengers and agricultural produce between islands.
Incoming Chairman Samal Duggins, St. Kitts and Nevis’ Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Marine Resources, pledged to focus on removing barriers to intra-regional trade, expanding partnerships with Africa and South America, and increasing the role of women and young people in agricultural modernisation.
Duggins questioned why it could sometimes be easier for member states to import agricultural produce from outside the region than to move it between neighbouring islands. He said the success of regional integration would depend on removing trade barriers, opening markets and turning strategies into action.
The meeting also heard from regional development partners on ways to strengthen agricultural production and financing. Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture Director General Dr. Muhammad Ibrahim highlighted intra-regional trade, youth and women’s participation, and a proposed regional seed bank as priorities under the organisation’s medium-term and Caribbean regional strategies. He reaffirmed IICA’s support for the OECS Commission and its member states.
Caribbean Development Bank Portfolio Manager Luther St Ville outlined the bank’s agricultural sector operations across OECS member states and opportunities for closer financial and operational cooperation. The Council proposed establishing a dedicated OECS Agriculture Task Force to develop a pipeline of agricultural projects suitable for financing.
Among the decisions taken, ministers gave member states 30 days to finalise feedback on the draft OECS Apiculture Policy, which aims to safeguard regional bee populations and ecosystems.
The Council also endorsed continued work under the 11th European Development Fund RIGHT programme to establish a digital registry for small shippers, supported the rollout of an OECS agriculture and fisheries risk insurance framework, and backed greater multi-state cooperation on sargassum management, seamoss production and root crop value chains.
The meeting’s outcomes are intended to accelerate implementation of regional food and agriculture initiatives and strengthen the region’s capacity to produce, transport and trade more of its own food.
