Family farming : considerations for agricultural policies in the Caribbean

Abstract

In 2014, the role of farmers in the Caribbean was brought into even sharper focus with the global effort to recognize and promote the concept of ‘family farmers.’ In fact, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) led this charge, with institutions, such as the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), supporting the call to action. To ensure that the family farming (FF) concept found application in the Caribbean Region, two years after the 2014 International Year of Family Farming (IYFF), IICA commissioned a study entitled Characterisation of Family Farms in the Caribbean: A Study of Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines as part of the Institute’s Flagship Project on Family Farming (FP-FF), by David Dollyand Glenroy Ennis (2017). This study was a first attempt to apply the varying formulations of a definition and characteristics of FF to a Caribbean context. It established the base for this current effort to determine the nature and scope of policy response for FF in the Caribbean.