Green calls for regional farmworker framework

CORAL SPRING, Trelawny — Agriculture Minister Floyd Green is calling for a regional structure to facilitate the movement of agricultural workers across the Caribbean, pointing to Dominica as a model for easing constraints on farmers and boosting production. “I think we need a framework, a framework that works for the movement of agricultural workers across the region,” he said. He noted that Dominica has already established a framework for agricultural migrant workers which has enabled the country to bring in about 200 workers, benefiting roughly 80 farmers and contributing to a significant increase in productivity. Green was speaking during Wednesday’s plenary session on “Unlocking private sector partnerships and expanding investments in agriculture and fisheries development” at the Caribbean Week of Agriculture 2026 conference. It was held at Ocean Coral Spring Hotel in Trelawny. The session, on the fourth of the six-day conference, followed a question from the floor about region-wide difficulty finding workers for agriculture. Green said the Caribbean should reconsider its traditionally insular approach to agricultural labour. “If given the opportunity, just as they are given the opportunity to go to Canada and to go to America and they work and they return home…what about the region?” he asked. He said a regional mechanism could allow workers to take up agricultural employment in neighbouring territories while providing farmers with access to people willing to work within the sector. Green acknowledged that such an arrangement would require proper oversight, but said Dominica’s experience provides a model worth examining. He said he intends to raise the matter at the Caribbean Community’s Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED). At the same time, Green said the region must make greater use of technology as the profile of the agricultural workforce changes. “One of the challenges with the young people going into agriculture now, they want to be owners. They don’t want to be workers,” he said, stressing the need to provide them with tools that can improve efficiency and productivity.

Agriculture Minister Floyd Green speaking on Wednesday during a plenary session on “Unlocking private sector partnerships and expanding investments in agriculture and fisheries development” during the Caribbean Week of Agriculture 2026 conference at Ocean Coral Spring Hotel in Trelawny. (Photo: Horace Hines)

Green cited agricultural drones as one example of how technology can reduce reliance on manual tasks. Through the Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA), Jamaica has invested in four drones which farmers may rent. They come with trained drone pilots. The College of Agriculture, Science and Education (CASE) is also training drone operators, while Jamaican company Sky Crop has begun assembling agricultural drones locally. Green also pointed to the growing use of small walk-behind tractors, which can enable individual farmers to more efficiently manage their operations. He said artificial intelligence (AI) and other emerging technologies should form part of the region’s response as agriculture adapts to changing workforce patterns. Belize’s Minister of Agriculture, Food Security and Enterprise Rodwell Ferguson said his country has experienced a similar shift. He recalled that three to four decades ago, Belize relied on agricultural workers from neighbouring Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador. That has changed as more young Belizeans have gained access to secondary and tertiary education, including university and postgraduate studies. “Young people are getting the opportunity to go to high school, sixth form, universities, [do] master’s degree, doctorate degree. And so maybe it is a good reason for the advent of the AI because it’s a time when we are having labour shortage, and no matter what we do, we can’t convince those young people to go and do agriculture,” he said. Ferguson said the changing aspirations of young people are also reflected in schools. In Belize, he said, agriculture is compulsory in first and second form but becomes an elective in third and fourth form. By then, participation can fall to about five students. Ferguson said smart agriculture could help make the sector more attractive to young people while helping Belize meet its food production needs. “It is critical. It is crucial because we must be able to feed ourselves,” he said.