Light on CARICOM

ITS IMPLEMENTATION deficit apart, a major drawback of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) is that its most critical constituencies, the ordinary citizens of the region, know too little of what is supposedly being done on their behalf.

It is not that people are entirely ignorant of the community’s ideals and projects, which the CARICOM’s leaders and secretariat officials sporadically speak about. Rather, the secretariat communicates in technospeak, and assumes, apparently, that once a declaration is made communication is accomplished.

Put another way, CARICOM, whether represented by the region’s leaders or the technocrats in Georgetown, engages in little real dialogue with citizens about community matters. People are mostly talked to, without feedback channels in a communication loop. And neither are the ideas reinforced through repetitive pronouncements.

This failure of communication amplifies the widely held perception of CARICOM as an institution that has achieved nothing in its 50 years. Which is a grave exaggeration, notwithstanding the community’s several shortcomings.

PROFOUND UNDERTAKINGS

CARICOM, if it does not falter this time, is on the cusp of two profound undertakings. Its communication deficit, however, raises the risk of the community failing to achieve the necessary, and deserved, citizens’ buy-in for these initiatives.

One is the planned implementation by the end of March of the free movement of people within the community, which is fundamental to transforming the integration movement into a genuine single market and economy. The other is the strategy, agreed to two years ago, to reduce CARICOM’s US$5-billion food import bill by 25 per cent by 2025.

The concept of free movement is generally better known and understood by citizens. It has been on the agenda since CARICOM’s founding, and some steps have been made towards its implementation. Already, a handful of skilled people – if they possess the appropriate certifying documents issued by national governments – can, with little hindrance, live and work most places in the community.

However, there is as yet no robust effort to inform/ educate people at the grassroots, including farmers, about the regional food initiative. At least not in Jamaica, and certainly not in a fashion that will excite people, especially the youth, about the prospects of farming for the regional market.

We, of course, will be reminded of the major agricultural investment conferences hosted by regional stakeholders – which are important, given the necessity for modern and relatively large-scale agriculture to efficiently expand regional farm output.

But there is also the reality that CARICOM consists mostly of small island states, with little land for expansive agriculture, as well as a history and culture of small farming. Creatively integrating existing farmers with new modes of production will likely be important to sustain real transformation. Existing farmers, if marginalised, could weaken efforts for transformative action.

We make these observations against the backdrop of last week’s update by CARICOM heads of government on the status of the food initiative after their summit in Guyana.

They reported that 73 projects and programmes under the‘25 by 25’initiative were being implemented by at least “13 regional partners and donors”. Around 20 others were at “different stages of formulation”.

Additionally, the region’s private sector was urged to take up 300,000 acres of land being offered by Suriname’s government for agricultural production, and farmers were also encouraged to use insurance schemes that were now available to the sector. The community, it was said, was also discussing developing transportation systems to move farm products across the region.

JUST SKETCHES

These sketches are welcomed. They are, however, just that – sketches, of which few of even the most sophisticated farmers in Jamaica have little information. Neither the national government nor the CARICOM Secretariat has spoken substantially to domestic farmers about the initiatives.

Yet, while it has the land space of neither Guyana, Suriname nor Belize for the establishment of megafarms, Jamaica would be expected to be among the countries where the ‘25 by 25’ initiative would be especially targeted for public buy-in. The island’s food import bill of over US$1.4 billion accounts for nearly 30 per cent of the CARICOM expenditure. Most experts say up to a quarter of this bill could be displaced with domestically produced substitutes.

While it is not expected to take over the responsibilities of national governments, CARICOM, in the circumstances, has an obligation to keep the region’s people informed, and hopefully excited, about its initiatives.

It can begin by talking more frequently, and directly, to domestic constituencies – as it promised in the strategic plan of the mid-2000s, and again implies it will do in its 2025-2030 strategic document.

As part of its engagement, the secretariat should make readily available background documents on its programmes and projects, and encourage frequent briefings on them by its experts for the region’s media and other interested parties.

It should also work with regional governments to establish CARICOM information centres within national information services. And the community must end the practice of placing restrictive classifications on almost every document, even the most innocuous ones.

The opinions on this page, except for The Editorial, do not necessarily reflect the opinions of The Gleaner.