Agriculture Value Chain Symposium
The Saint Lucia Trade Export Promotion Agency (TEPA) on February 04, 2015, in association with the Minister for Agriculture, Food Production, Fisheries, Co-operatives and Rural Development hosted an export value chain symposium with the overall objective of: “Developing a shared vision towards increasing Agricultural Exports.”
This initiative targeted all practitioners and stakeholders of the export value chain, namely agricultural producers, farmers, exporters, farmer groups, ministry officials, shipping and other logistics agents and packaging companies.
Chaired by the TEPA’s Chief Executive Officer and Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture, participants deliberated in two plenary sessions on the future of Saint Lucia’s agricultural exports. The initiative also contributed to the identification/short list of the most lucrative commodities for export. There was also emphasis on the existing constrains, impediments and recommendations for resolving these challenges, and were detailed by each entity in their area of speciality.
At this juncture, TEPA and the Ministry of Agriculture are in the process of reviewing the findings towards developing projects and initiatives to capitalize on opportunities available in the agricultural exports. Through this partnership, TEPA envisages improved conditions to respond to promising market leads for agriculture and agro-processed foods in priority markets.
