National Agriculture and Food Policy of Belize 2015 to 2030 “Agriculture – Bedrock of the Economy” Ministry of Agriculture BELMOPAN, BELIZE | NOVEMBER 2015 CONTENTS Acknowledgement ................................................................................................................................................... 3 Foreword ................................................................................................................................................................. 4 ACRONYMS .............................................................................................................................................................. 6 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ........................................................................................................................................... 10 Chapter 1: Background and Rationale ................................................................................................................... 14 1.1 Introduction and Overview .............................................................................................................. 14 1.2 Overview of the Policy ..................................................................................................................... 18 1.3 Policy Formulation Process ........................................................................................................ 19 1.4 The Context ................................................................................................................................ 22 Chapter 2: The External Environment ................................................................................................................... 23 2.1 The Global Context..................................................................................................................... 23 2.2 Regional Environment ................................................................................................................ 25 2.3 National Macroeconomic Environment ..................................................................................... 26 2.4 Main Opportunities and Threats in the External Environment ................................................. 28 Chapter 3: The Internal Environment – Agriculture and Food Sector ................................................................... 31 3.1 The Role of the Agriculture and Food Sector in the National Economy .................................... 31 3.2 Production Systems, Production, and Productivity Issues ......................................................... 33 3.3 Main Strengths and Weaknesses within the Agriculture and Food Sector ............................... 39 Chapter 4: Strategic Analysis and Evaluation of Policy Options ........................................................................ 42 4.1 Overview .................................................................................................................................... 42 4.2 Framework for Analysis and Evaluation ..................................................................................... 43 Chapter 5: National Agriculture and Food Policy Framework ........................................................................... 46 5.1 Scope of the Policy ..................................................................................................................... 46 5.2 Guiding Principles ...................................................................................................................... 47 5.3 Overall Policy Goal ..................................................................................................................... 48 5.4 Broad Objective of the Policy and Pillars ................................................................................... 48 5.5 The Policy Incentive Framework ................................................................................................ 48 5.6 National Targets ......................................................................................................................... 51 Chapter 6: The Pillars, Strategies, Measures and Actions ..................................................................................... 52 Pillar 1: Sustainable Production, Productivity, and Competitiveness .................................................... 52 Pillar 2: Market Development, Access and Penetration ........................................................................ 62 Pillar 3: National Food and Nutrition Security and Rural Livelihoods .................................................... 71 1 Pillar 4: Sustainable Agriculture and Risk Management ........................................................................................ 77 Pillar 5: Governance - Accountability, Transparency and Coordination .............................................. 83 Chapter 7: Organizational Strategy and Institutional Governance Mechanism ................................................ 87 7.1 Overview .................................................................................................................................... 87 7.2 Key Stakeholders and Institutions ............................................................................................. 87 7.3 Organizational Structures .......................................................................................................... 87 7.4 Sustainability: Implementation Management ........................................................................... 92 Annex 1: Description of the Agricultural Production Systems ............................................................................... 96 Annex 2: CARICOM Exports for Banana and Sugar from 2002-2012 ..................................................................... 98 Annex 3: Graph of Macro-Economic Environment 2000-2013 .............................................................................. 99 Annex 4: Main Concerns and Issues Raised at the Consultations ....................................................................... 102 Annex 5: List of Participants ................................................................................................................................ 114 Annex 6: Members of the Policy Taskforce ......................................................................................................... 123 Annex 7: List of Consultations and Dates ............................................................................................................ 125 2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT The Ministry of Agriculture acknowledges the joint collaboration of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation in Agriculture (IICA) in the realization of the National Agriculture and Food Policy 2015-2030. Both institutions provided invaluable technical guidance and support which also included funding by FAO. Special gratitude goes to the entire management of the Ministry of Agriculture, particularly, the Chief Executive Officer (Agriculture) and Chief Agricultural Officer who provided their unwavering support throughout the entire process and their vision to achieve a Policy that seeks to revolutionize the agricultural sector. Additionally, this entire undertaking was made possible through the participation of the many agro- producers, agro-processors, representatives from the business community and financial institutions, and representation from various ministries, NGOs, and CBOs among others. Their involvement in the many consultations held throughout the country was invaluable due to the ideas, suggestions, and recommendations generated to build a more competitive and sustainable agricultural sector. To all these participants, the Ministry salutes your contributions and looks forward to continued positive interactions. The Ministry also expresses its gratitude to the Policy Taskforce who managed the entire process and actively participated in the many consultations. Your diligence in guiding, reviewing, formatting, and designing the document was extremely important. Finally, to all those who in some way or another contributed to the realization of this Policy document, you have the appreciation and gratitude of this Ministry. 3 FOREWORD Agriculture continues to be the bedrock of the economy of Belize in the form of food security, employment, and foreign exchange. This sector has also reinforced Belize’s stance in being one of the few countries in the region that can boast of its food self-sufficiency status and its rising exports of key commodities. However, for Belize to continue achieving prosperity in Agriculture, greater efforts and investments have to be made in the modernization of the Agriculture and Food Sector in order to become more competitive. Consequently, the Ministry of Agriculture is pleased to present the National Agriculture and Food Policy (NAFP) 2015-2030. The NAFP 2015-2030 is an updated policy that reflects the important developments in the global, regional, and national agricultural sector. It mainly focuses on enhancing five strategic policy objectives that will directly impact and propel small and large scale agricultural endeavors forward. The Ministry of Agriculture, using the NAFP 2015-2030 as a roadmap, will aim to increase agricultural production, productivity, competitiveness, and market opportunities. Emphasis will be placed on innovation, research and development, and partnerships to capitalize on available opportunities