On March 11, 2026, the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) officially launched the AgriMSE Business Development and Regional Market Integration Project during a virtual regional event, bringing targeted support to small-scale agricultural producers across five Caribbean nations. Funded by the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB), the initiative focuses on strengthening the competitiveness, operational efficiency and cross-border market access of Agricultural Micro and Small Enterprises (AgriMSEs) based in Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, Saint Lucia, and Trinidad and Tobago. Over an 18 to 24-month implementation period, the project will deliver diagnostic business assessments, tailored technical training, and structured market development opportunities to participating AgriMSEs, with a call for interested producers who missed the launch to reach out to the project coordination team for inclusion.
At the opening of the launch event, Diana Francis, IICA’s representative for Trinidad and Tobago, framed the project as far more than a short-term technical intervention. She emphasized that AgriMSEs are foundational pillars of regional agricultural value chains, sustainable rural livelihoods, and collective food security, making targeted investment in their growth a regional priority. To successfully integrate small-scale agricultural producers into formal domestic, regional, and global markets, Francis noted that sustained cross-sector collaboration is non-negotiable. Critical partners include regional development institutions, national governments, private sector actors, and end consumers, with logistics, distribution, and marketing firms playing an especially vital role in moving AgriMSE products from farm gates to commercial outlets across borders.
To deliver structured, specialized support, the project is organized into three coordinated technical consultancy streams, with IICA overseeing overall integration, stakeholder outreach, and ongoing technical backstopping. The first stream, led by EconoTech Ltd., focuses on optimizing business and production operations to help AgriMSEs scale their output and meet market entry requirements. The second, headed by consultant Jai Rampersad, prioritizes streamlining intra-regional trade and removing barriers to export readiness. The third stream, managed by GBest Consulting, works to improve AgriMSE credit ratings, build investment readiness, and expand access to formal financing and capital opportunities. All three streams work in close partnership with national agricultural entities to align interventions with local needs and priorities.
The new IICA-CDB project is complemented by longstanding agricultural development initiatives funded by the European Union (EU) across the Caribbean. Janet Lawrence, IICA’s Barbados-based agricultural health, food safety and quality specialist for the Caribbean, outlined the EU’s 10+ year track record of supporting regional agriculture, particularly through funding for sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) capacity building and regulatory framework improvements. These EU-backed initiatives add complementary resources that support not only AgriMSEs directly, but also the policymakers and regional institutions tasked with building an enabling policy environment for agricultural growth. By addressing foundational priorities including agricultural health, food safety, quality assurance, and aligned regulatory standards, the EU projects create the necessary conditions for AgriMSEs to compete effectively in regional and international export markets, reinforcing the core objectives of the new CDB-funded project.
Patrick Antoine, Chief Executive Officer and Technical Director of the CARICOM Private Sector Organization (CPSO), highlighted the critical role of private sector collaboration in sustaining the project’s impact beyond its implementation period. Antoine emphasized that small agricultural enterprises often face shared systemic barriers related to production scale, logistics infrastructure, and processing capacity, gaps that can be addressed through closer partnership with larger regional firms. To this end, the CPSO is establishing a permanent Regional Agribusiness Working Group, designed to carry forward the project’s objectives long after the initial consultancy phase concludes.
“The intention behind the Regional Agribusiness Working Group is to bring together the experience, networks and technical capabilities of larger regional enterprises to directly support the growth of AgriMSEs,” Antoine explained. “Through collaboration in areas such as shared processing, logistics and packaging, we can help smaller enterprises overcome scale constraints and position themselves more effectively for regional and even international markets.”
Antoine also shared updates on growing cross-region investment opportunities tied to deepening engagement between Caribbean and African private sectors. He confirmed that the African Export Import Bank (Afreximbank) has recently increased its investment commitment to the Caribbean from US$3 billion to US$5 billion, opening new financing avenues for regional agricultural enterprises. The new Regional Agribusiness Working Group will leverage this and other strategic partnerships, alongside a public Regional AgriMSE Database being developed as part of the project, to deliver ongoing targeted support to small producers. This long-term structure will also advance the CARICOM 25 by 2025 plus 5 food security agenda, which aims to reduce regional food import dependence by 25% by 2030.
Early feedback from AgriMSE representatives who attended the launch has been overwhelmingly positive. One participating producer described the introductory session as insightful, noting that it brings together all the resources and support small agricultural producers have long requested in a single coordinated initiative, restoring hope and reinforcing purpose for small-scale producers across the region. Francis echoed this sentiment, reiterating that the project’s core goal is to ensure that agri-food products from Caribbean AgriMSEs meet both the quality standards and price competitiveness requirements needed to gain and sustain market share in domestic and export markets. It also seeks to build a durable collaborative ecosystem for AgriMSE support through the long-term IICA-CPSO partnership and a network of aligned stakeholders.
As the leading specialized agricultural agency for the Inter-American system, IICA holds a mandate to support its 34 member states in advancing inclusive agricultural development and rural well-being through high-quality international technical cooperation. The CPSO, the most recently accredited associate institution of the Caribbean Community, is a member-led service organization focused on mobilizing private sector participation across the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME), with membership open to private entities of all sizes including micro, small, and medium enterprises.