Against a backdrop of growing global supply chain volatility and mounting climate-related risks, the Cabinet of Antigua and Barbuda has issued a renewed call to ramp up domestic food production, issuing formal instructions to the country’s Ministry of Agriculture to accelerate work on constructing and restoring critical water storage infrastructure including dams, ponds and other rain catchment facilities. The move is designed to address longstanding water access barriers that have limited agricultural output across the twin-island nation.
During a regularly scheduled cabinet meeting held Wednesday, members held in-depth deliberations centered on advancing national food security goals. Discussions highlighted an urgent need to boost both the volume and diversity of locally grown food products, while steadily cutting the country’s heavy reliance on imported food staples that leave the nation exposed to global market shocks.
Honourable Anthony Smith Jr., Minister for Agriculture, Lands, Fisheries and the Blue Economy, updated attendees on the ministry’s ongoing work. He reported that the agency has already been active in constructing new dams, clearing overgrown sites, and restoring existing ponds and other natural water sources in preparation for upcoming seasonal rainfall, aligning with pre-existing national food security frameworks.
Cabinet members emphasized that maximizing rainwater capture and storage is a foundational step toward building a far more resilient agricultural sector. This urgency stems from Antigua and Barbuda’s well-documented susceptibility to extended dry spells and unpredictable rainfall patterns tied to shifting global climate conditions, which have repeatedly disrupted small-scale and commercial farming operations in recent years.
Following these discussions, the Cabinet directed Minister Smith and his team of agricultural technical experts to dramatically scale up the ongoing program of dam and pond construction, while continuing proactive maintenance and restoration work on existing water catchment infrastructure. Beyond water infrastructure, the Ministry has also been ordered to strengthen outreach and support programs designed to empower farmers to bring more idle acreage into active production, and to expand the government’s own targeted food production initiatives.
The latest directives build on a suite of existing policy measures already being rolled out as part of the government’s overarching national food security strategy. One core long-term goal of this strategy is the development of a interconnected national network that can capture and store far larger volumes of rainwater exclusively for agricultural use. Once completed, the network will deliver a more reliable, low-cost water supply for farmers, and cut the agricultural sector’s reliance on expensive desalinated drinking water for crop irrigation.
The government’s broader food security agenda also addresses systemic barriers to access for productive agricultural land. Earlier in 2024, the Ministry of Agriculture announced that roughly 150 acres of underutilized farmland had been repossessed for redistribution. Cabinet subsequently approved the allocation of 75 of those acres specifically to new young and women farmers, a targeted initiative designed to put productive land in the hands of producers committed to growing output and boosting local food supplies.
Additional complementary initiatives already in motion include the development of a state-of-the-art Tissue Culture Laboratory in Bethesda, which will supply local farmers with disease-free, high-yield planting material to improve crop quality and yields. The government is also partnering with the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) and the Caribbean Agricultural Research and Development Institute (CARDI) on a range of projects, including developing improved sweet potato varieties, delivering hands-on farmer training, strengthening national seed security systems, and scaling up climate-resilient agricultural practices across the country.
Cabinet members stressed that all these policy initiatives must ultimately deliver tangible results for consumers across Antigua and Barbuda, with the end goal of getting larger volumes of fresh, local food into households, supermarkets, hotels, restaurants and other consumer outlets. To that end, the government is actively encouraging all local producers to take full advantage of the expanded access to land, upgraded water infrastructure, improved planting materials, technical assistance and other support offered through the Ministry of Agriculture to expand their production operations.
In closing, the Cabinet reaffirmed that national food security remains one of the government’s top national priorities. Officials noted that expanding domestic agricultural production delivers multiple core benefits: it not only cuts the country’s costly food import bill, which frees up public funds for other critical development priorities, but also strengthens Antigua and Barbuda’s overall resilience against external supply disruptions, extreme climate events, and other interconnected global challenges that have strained food systems across small island developing states in recent years.
In line with this priority, the Cabinet has formally tasked the Ministry of Agriculture with moving forward aggressively on four core priorities: expanding national agricultural water storage capacity, supporting both existing and new entering farmers, bringing additional underutilized agricultural land into active productive use, and ultimately growing more food to meet the needs of all people across Antigua and Barbuda.