Representatives and focal points from the agricultural sector in CARICOM, on Tuesday, began training on an electronic market information system that is scheduled to be activated by April month-end. The system is intended to provide timely and accurate information about the availability of commodities on the regional market.

The 115th Special Meeting of the Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED) in October last year, mandated the establishment of the Electronic Agriculture Market Information System as part of a suite of actions to improve the trade in agriculture within CARICOM. Ministers of Agriculture stressed at the meeting in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, that collaboration and coordination between Member States were necessary to boost intra-regional trade. The market information system is therefore designed as a government-to-government platform where information on buyers and sellers and quantity of commodities can be accessed.

The training is a collaborative effort between the CARICOM Secretariat and the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA). During the hour-long interactive training session conducted by Mr. Randall Vargas, IT Specialist at IICA, participants benefitted from a demonstration on the features of the system. The focal points also provided recommendations to improve the platform to ensure it benefits both producers and buyers and incorporates elements of other information systems to which the Region subscribes.

Programme Manager, Agricultural and Agro-Industrial Development at the CARICOM Secretariat, Mr. Shaun Baugh, and Representative/CARICOM Liaison, IICA Delegation in Guyana, Mr. Wilmot Garnett, briefly addressed participants at the training session.

Mr. Baugh encouraged the focal points to ensure they communicate the information in a timely manner via the platform.

“Our records indicate that annually we give up in excess of US$1B in terms of imports and the waiver of the CET – the Common External Tariff that we charge on imported goods. It presents a real opportunity under the 25 by 25 (food security) Initiative for us to create new industries, and to even strengthen and bolster our food security initiatives. This is a real opportunity for the Region, and I am looking forward to see how we can allow the system to share information on available produce and products throughout the Region and also to build a network of contact with the persons here to fast-track the speed at which we do business and how we trade amongst each other,” he said.

Acknowledging the “formal settings’ of trade in the Region, Mr. Garnett also alluded to the opportunities of the system to “quickly engage one another, establish what the prices will be and get things moving within our Region... This is something that we can work on together.”