The document discusses strategies for small island states to compete internationally in agriculture. It argues that they must identify distinctive local products to brand and protect through intellectual property rights. This allows consumers worldwide to identify the genuine product sources. It also describes several commodity clusters that Jamaica has developed successful value chains in, such as coffee, rum, spices and poultry. Through branding, certification, and clustering producers, these chains allow Jamaica to compete globally in niche markets.

1. *
Keith Amiel – Caribbean Agribusiness Association- Jamaica

2. * In the global economy small island states can never
compete on volume or price.
* They must seek to identify products distinctive to
their particular demographics to enable them to
invoke ‘rules of origin’ and ‘intellectual property
rights’ for the distinctive differentiated products.
* In this way consumers across the world must
continuously revert to the source for the ‘genuine’
food supplies. Substitutes produced in other
countries will essentially remain ‘counterfeit’
*
2

3. Many Island states produce the same
variety of fruits, root crops and
vegetables for local distribution
They are not branded and carry no
distinguishing features
The capacity to get premium and
referred prices is therefore limited,
usually to just above break even.
3

4. The upscale markets in developed countries rely on ‘just in time management’
to match their traditional market days.
The introduction of greenhouse technology and drip irrigation, with some
hydroponics, has helped to ensure the repeatability of quality and quantity
However the vast distances that have to be traversed to markets and the
perishable nature of the products, when added to transportation costs and in
precise delivery dates, tend to make sourcing and supply marketing
arrangements problematic
4

5. * Small entities must come together in clusters to augment the raw
material base and to goal align efforts to provide larger volumes of
produce and more consistent inputs and outputs.
* Primary produce have many constraints with respect to disease control,
longevity and perishability in the realm of international trade.
Traceability and surveillance data from ‘farm to fork’ is being
increasingly demanded. Simultaneously GAP, HACCP and ISO Certification
will increasingly become requirements to trade in first world countries.
* Emphasis must be on product differentiation through value chains to
facilitate predictable outputs to meet international market
requirements. This will be supported by enlightened inventory control,
shipping and marketing strategies.
*
5

6. * Significant socio-economic changes have been taking place as the
result of liberating women from subsidiary rolls and them emerging
as a highly educated middle class on the same footing as men.
* Women have been shifting jobs and rolls. There is a shift away from
struggling with the preparation of primary agricultural produce in
the homes to convenient, ready to cook, ready to eat foods. Both
their children and themselves have new value systems that demand
more ‘eating on the go’.
* As these families are also becoming those with the highest
disposable incomes, they are increasingly influencing the diet forms
in the market place.
* If the small island ACP states don’t adjust to the new and changing
demands of the now Global Market Place, they will be increasingly
marginalized
*
6

7. Here our Meat processing plant at Copperwood, Jamaica, has responded to the
reality that the three million plus tourists who come to our shores per year
come from countries where sausages and bacon form part of every breakfast
offering in upscale hotels. Accordingly they are treated to our ‘Caribbean
Passion’ brand of spiced products, all produced in Jamaica, to make their
Caribbean gastronomic experience memorable
An interesting feature of the tourist experience is that they wish to take home
some of the spices with them and look for the same in their Supermarkets at
home base. In so doing they create an international market for our products
7

8. Our production has
moved to match first
world standards. It is
market driven and
the end user will
therefore determine
what is to be
produced.
Here we have
produced Omega-3
commercial eggs for
the supermarkets to
satisfy the health
conscious and to
initiate a diversified
marketing strategy
for the simplest of
products
Rural small farmers produce a
million dozen eggs per month
8

9. * Securing the International Market through Branding has
proved relatively easy for Jamaica in that it’s music forms
lead by Bob Marley and Reggae have been recognised around
the world
* The performances of the Jamaican athletes, lead by Usain
Bolt, in international sport are legendary.
* Jamaica, as a tourist destination, his highly ranked for
holidays
* The Jamaican Trade Mark, to be associated with the upcoming
World Olympics and Trade and Music Festival in London next
July, has been copyrighted to safeguard its genuine Jamaican
products in the proposed Caribbean Cuisine Showcase.
*
9

10. *
10

11. 11

12. Having identified those commodities
in which the country could have a
strategic advantage the potential 12
players must become goal aligned

13. Paradigm shift to Commodity Clusters
 Animal feed Manufacturers  Small Ruminants
 Nutriceuticals /  Coffee
Pharmaceuticals/Cosmetic group
 Cocoa
 Bananas
 Traditional Fruit & Vegetables
 Pork Producers
 Sugar Cane & its Derivatives
 Bakers Confectionary and other
Pastries  Coconuts and other Edible oils
 Poultry Producers and other  Beef and Dairy
Meat Processors
 Root Crops
 Citrus and other juices Sugar
Cane  Other exotic fruits and
vegetables
13

14. * Paradigm shift to Commodity Clusters
 Honey  Herbs & Spices
 Horticulture, Tree Crops &  Grains & Cereals
Forestry
 Wines & Spirits, Other brews and
 Fertilizer Manufacturers alcoholic Beverages
 Exotic Beverages, Jams, Purees  Wearable cotton & other Fibers
etc. from non Traditional Fruit &
Vegetables  Fish Farmers including
Ornamentals
 Wood Paper and Furniture
Manufacturing  Other Processor Groups
14

15. Nutraceuticals, Cosmeceuticals and Pharmaceuticals
are derivatives from 185 trees and shrubs that grow in the forests and agricultural
areas. Over 100 of them have been identified in the Caribbean. The properties
include anti-oxidants, ant-iflammatorys, carmenatives, antizymotics , purgatives
and diuretics. They also have various vitamins and electrolytes as well as digestive
and stimulant properties that make some valuable as dietary supplements.
Teas on the market include peppermint, bisy, cinnamon, ginger, mint, sorrel,
cerasee, lemon grass, pimento, sarsaperilla, guinea hen weed, moringa leaf,
turmeric tea, neem leaf, comfrey and aloe vera
15

16. Blue Mountain Coffee is listed as the finest, most expensive coffee in
the world. Increasingly, instead of exporting the green beans, the produce is
being differentiated locally to achieve more value added before export. The
brand is registered internationally and cannot be copied.
16

17. *
 Financial Institutions & Facilitators
 Research and Development entities involved
in adaptive technology
 Growers and Ancillary Producers
 Processors involved in product
differentiation into distinctive value added
products
 Brand and intellectual property rights
services
 Marketing Development
 Sales and Distribution 17

18. G
* T
R
O E
W
T
C
H MARKET REQUIRED SERVICES H
A
N
L O
O
N
L
G PROCESSORS REQUIRED SERVICES O
W
G
H Y
O
L
E TRADERS REQUIRED SERVICES P
V
R
A O
L
U
V
E PRODUCERS REQUIRED SERVICES I
D
C E
H R
A
I INPUT SUPPLIES REQUIRED SERVICES S
N

19. A Unified & Organized Agribusiness
Sector: The CABA Value Chain
Consumers
Retailers
Exporters
Promoters/advertisers
Processors
Producers
Input Supplies & Services
Research & Development
Planners (Government & Private sector)
Small Poultry Banana Aquaculture Pharmaceutical
Ruminants Industry Industry Industry &
Nutriceuticals
Cluster Cluster Cluster 19 Cluster
Cluster

20. Stakeholders in a Value Chain
Consumers household, restaurant, foreign & local
hotels, supermarkets etc. supermarkets,
Retailers overseas importers
etc.
estates, statutory bodies,
Exporters shipping lines etc.
trade
Promoters/Advertisers promotion
producers of: banana agencies, etc.
Processors chips, banana based
baked products, etc
Producers small, medium and
large banana
financiers, extension, agric.
Supplies & Services supply stores, soil/tissue
farmers, nurseries
etc.
analysis's labs, consultants,
R&D etc.
Planners geneticists, biotechnologists, pathologists,
agronomists, food technologists, post harvest,
soils, market researchers production economists,
Banana
Industry Ministry of Agriculture, CARICOM,
Cluster international trade & policy advisers,
economists, global market strategists,
20

21. Pork Industry is one of the fastest growing value chains
It incorporates
international
technology from
Canada, USA and
Netherlands with
the Jamaican
private sector and
Ministry of
Agriculture
agencies. An
important part of
the chain is the
Jamaica Pig
Farmers
Association cluster
at one end and the
Jamaica meat All ham, bacon, and fresh pork requirements are satisfied
processors at the 21
other

22. The most successful
Cluster and Value Chain
produces 10 million
kilograms of fresh poultry
per month.
Note the ticked tag
that makes the CB
product first world.
It is officially
designated GMP,
HACCP and ISO
9000 certified
22

23. More than 14 Food Festivals in the A hundred cooks turn up
villages across Jamaica are held per with their followers from
year. Each highlights a different product their village for a
barbecue chicken cook-off
in the commodity chain.
The village and Hotel Chefs compete against
each other to determine who the reigning
Kings and Queens for the year will be. Tourists
mingle with the locals to experience the blend
of food, music and dance.
Winners and spectators cheering on a beach in Montego Bay, Jamaica
23

24. The Colonial experience was based on preferential treatment for our
bananas and sugar in the UK and Europe. Having been attacked by WTO
rulings against continued trade on that basis, we have turned to EPA
agreements in which product development and differentiation now makes
far more money from exports than under the original arrangement
Originally starting with bananas and plantains, they now incorporate root crops
such as Sweet Potato and Cassava chips in plain or hot and spicy flavours.
24

25. Baked breads, buns
and biscuits are now
distributed across
the world with
jams, cheeses and
other preserves to
complement them.
Wherever the
diaspora is, the
ethnic shops are
never out of these
products. An
interesting result is
that the National
Supermarket Food
Chains, rather than
loose business, are
now incorporating
the products in
their regular A display from one of fifty bakeries in the business
inventories. 25

26. Whereas there have been challenges with citrus exports, many seasonal fruits are
now processed into juices to supply an all year round market. Tropical fruit are
thereby more available to the general population and the school feeding
programme. While tourists have access to exotic tastes continuously.
26

27. Jamaica’s most successful International Value Chain is in the wine
and spirit category. The alcoholic drinks are in literally every
country in the world. The demand for some such as Red Stripe Beer
and Tia Maria Coffee Liqueur have set the stage for additional
manufacture in extra regional breweries
Classic Red Stripe Jamaican Beer The Light beer in three flavors
27

28. The Sugar Cane Industry , in addition to exporting sugar and molasses, has
seen the emergence of a wide variety of ethanol based Jamaican rums and
mixed spirits that are successfully marketed around the world
Ethanol is being incorporated into petrol to a
greater extent. Exports to the US for this
purpose are to increase dramatically.
28

29. Jamaica has developed a wide range of Rum Creams to
successfully challenge the traditional international brands of
cream spirits
29

30. A wide range of spices,
marinades and chutneys, based
on the extensive variety of
herbs and spices, have
penetrated the international
market.
Led by Jamaican Pimento (all
spice), the highest rated
Jamaican ginger and Scotch
Bonnet peppers,- they stand
out.
30

31. CONSUMERS: HOUSEHOLDS, RESTAURANTS,
More multiplier effects and Income HOTELS, SUPERMARKETS
generation at the top of the Value
Chain. Therefore all elements must be RETAILERS: DISTRIBUTORS, TRUCKERS
linked to share in the returns. The
agricultural producers must now be an EXPORTERS: EXPORT COMPANIES,
integral part of the new vertically SHIPPERS, ETC
integrated associations. In this way PROMOTERS &
they will have a greater share of the ADVERTISERS: TRADE
PROMOTION AGENCIES, ETC
‘fruits of their labor’ and realize the
PROCESSORS: MEAT
possibility of overcoming poverty. /MILK PROCESSORS,
SLAUGHTERHOUSES,
CANNERS, TANNERS
PRODUCERS
(DEFINED BY
CLUSTER)
EXTENSION
Market &
MULTIPLIERS
Processors
Traders
INPUT
Producer SUPPLIER
s/ S
Growers
Input
Suppliers R&D
31

32. *
Some Facilities such as evaluating and Certifying
Laboratories can only be justified on a regional basis.
Governments must deal with implications of sovereignty.
, R&D Institutions, Diagnostic Services, Processing,
Branding and Marketing may need to be regionalized,
depending on where the strengths and weakness are.
32

33. *
Food Self sufficiency is considered the main priority. We
must feed our population the cheapest way possible. Other peoples
surpluses and handouts can make Politicians popular in the short term
but this position is not sustainable.
Sustaining local Agribusiness - lead by the
Tourist Industry. We legitimately consider Agro- tourism because
we can sustain business on the demographic features of the Caribbean.
Sustaining traditional markets regardless of life cycle
considerations.
Creating New Niche Markets based on those things in
which the Caribbean has a strategic Advantage.
33

34. *
This will give us a capacity to earn hard currency to buy
the essential things that the country needs
The strategy will give us some measure of security in
the International Marketplace based on Rules of Origin
We will be shielded to a great extent from head on
pricing competition as any product originating from
another region, other than the Caribbean, will be an
‘imitation’
Between visitors requiring mementos of their visits and
the large diasporas yearning for a taste from home, an
assured core market will exist.
Employment of the local population will be sustainable.
34

35. We have got to ‘Emancipate ourselves from mental
slavery- none but ourselves can free our minds’- a
Jamaican reggae song by Bob Marley
By constantly thinking in terms of subsistence
farming we are institutionalizing poverty and
backwardness. Although small, we must think big.
To this end we may need to act collectively. Let us
resolve to leave this world better than how we
found it
*
35