Regional Project to boost Value-Added Products from Roots and Tubers

Jamaica is to benefit from a regional project, aimed at increasing the number of value-added products that can be derived from roots and tubers.

The initiative also seeks to boost domestic consumption of these products as well as exports, in an effort to improve farmers’ earnings and promote food security.

The ‘Developing Capacity to Analyse and Strengthen Root and Tuber Value Chains in the Caribbean Region for Improved Food Security’, was developed through a joint partnership between the Caribbean Agricultural Research and Development Institute (CARDI) and the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Co-operation (CTA).

It will be piloted in six Caribbean countries, namely Jamaica, Barbados, Dominica, St. Kitts, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and Trinidad and Tobago.

According to a statement issued by the CARDI Secretariat, value chains are fast becoming a critical part of the agricultural landscape, as countries seek to develop a competitive sector by linking farmers with end markets.

It noted that while there are a number of guides for analysing value chains, researchers from the CTA have concluded that the existing methodologies are set at too high a level to be used by those stakeholders, who actually operate in a value chain.

As such, under the proposed project, a new methodology for assessing root and tuber value chains in the Caribbean will be developed.

It is envisaged that the approach adopted will make considerable use of multi-stakeholder techniques to both gather information and identify solutions to value chain problems.  It will also identify opportunities for enhancing  the livelihoods of  stakeholders along the value chains.

To kick-start the project, a series of activities have been held across the region in participating countries. These include the first of four in-country workshops, which was held in Trinidad in July. The workshops aimed to introduce the project to the national co-ordinators from each of the six pilot countries, as well as the production of a draft methodology.

Data have also been collected in each country, using the draft methodology.  This information was analysed and presented to stakeholders at national validation workshops in the beneficiary islands.

Upcoming workshops will be held in St. Kitts and Nevis on September 1; Barbados on September 3; and St. Vincent and the Grenadines on September 9.

A Regional Validation Workshop will also be held in Trinidad and Tobago on September 23 and 24. It is expected that at this workshop, each country coordinator will present their reports.  With these individual country feedback, the methodology will be refined and finalised, and will then be distributed for use within the region, along with the African Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries linked to the CTA.

Globally, development of agriculture value chains is actively being promoted as an answer to problems of low producer incomes, poor market access, and even food security.