China’s presence in the Caribbean is expanding beyond its traditional areas of bilateral cooperation to support the region’s agricultural drive, as it aims for greater self-sufficiency in the name of food security.
Caribbean nations are largely reliant on food imports. A 2022 World Food Programme survey noted a deterioration in food-consumption patterns in the region, with low-income earners severely impacted by rising food prices, limited working hours, livelihood disruptions and market instability.
In April 2024, the Caribbean Community (Caricom), the intergovernmental body of Caribbean nations, estimated that approximately 3 million people out of 7.1 million (43%) in the English- and Dutch-speaking Caribbean were food insecure. While that amounted to a 17% reduction compared to May 2023, it was still a 78% increase compared to 2020, at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The agricultural goals of the Caribbean are also being undermined by frequent catastrophic weather events. Dominica’s food system, for example, is still recovering from Hurricane Maria in 2017: six days after the storm hit, the intergovernmental Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency reported that 100% of the island’s agriculture had been destroyed. Data gathered by the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank illustrates that Dominican food imports have climbed significantly, from XCD 110 million (USD 40.6 million) in 2017 to XCD 195 million in 2023.
A post-hurricane assessment by Dominica’s Ministry for Agriculture revealed significant losses and damages. The total loss for the crop and livestock sectors, including damages to farm buildings and equipment, was valued at USD 179.6 million. The government’s Post-Disaster Needs Assessment found the fisheries sector was also significantly affected, with approximately 128 vessels and a large amount of fishing gear and engines destroyed.
In 2024, the University of Notre Dame’s Global Adaptation Initiative updated its index of countries’ vulnerability to climate change. This regularly updated list underlines the Caribbean region as having some of the most vulnerable national food systems in the world. The food rankings – informed by indicators including cereal yields, population growth and food import dependency – placed Antigua and Barbuda at 181 out of 189 nations, St Kitts and Nevis at 176, Dominica at 127, the Bahamas at 120 and Barbados at 110.
A 2022 report on Eastern Caribbean food systems explains this vulnerability: “Structural shifts away from agriculture and towards services have led to a much greater reliance on imports to meet local and tourist food consumption demand.” Co-published by the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization, the European Union and the International Cooperation Centre of Agricultural Research for Development, the report found the region’s dependency on imported cereals to be almost 100%.
China’s technical support via climate-smart agricultural technologies is providing a lifeline. Several Caribbean nations, such as the Bahamas, Barbados and Dominica have received support from both China’s state and private sectors in building capacity to boost their agricultural sectors. This support has come in the form of both equipment and the endorsement of farming techniques that enhance local agricultural practices.
According to data referenced by the US Republican party’s Foreign Affairs Committee, Chinese investment in the Caribbean totalled more than USD 10 billion during 2005-2022. The committee referenced the China Global Investment Tracker, which is co-published by the American Enterprise Institute and The Heritage Foundation, a pair of conservative US think-tanks based in Washington DC. The tracker found these investments to cover areas such as infrastructure, tourism, transport and energy.
The Bahamas embraces Chinese agricultural expertise
According to the Foreign Affairs Committee, bilateral trade between China and the Bahamas amounted to USD 492 million in 2022, a 40% increase on the previous year. Diplomatic relations between the two nations were established in 1997. As far back as 2009, the government of the Bahamas and Chinese investors have engaged in several diplomatic and trade projects. For example, in 2019 China signed a USD 12 million agreement to fund “upgrades to the National Stadium and other Bahamian development projects”.
One area they were and remain serious about is agriculture. The interest is welcomed by Bahamian officials as they increase their food security and self-sufficiency. The US Department of Commerce’s International Trade Administration estimates the Bahamas imports 90% of its food at a cost of USD 1 billion annually.
In the first quarter of 2023, the Bahamian Ministry of Agriculture signed a memorandum of understanding with Hunan province’s Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, “to initiate agricultural cooperation”. The following year, China donated tractors and tillers to the Bahamian Ministry of Agriculture.
Deon Gibson, the Bahamas’ director of agriculture, says China’s involvement in agricultural development has been yielding promising results. He describes the establishment of greenhouses and open-air testing facilities, in conjunction with experts from Hunan province’s agriculture and rural affairs department. They are experimenting with a variety of crops, including tomatoes, sweet and hot peppers, and leafy greens. The goal is to simultaneously assess the compatibility of these crops to the Bahamian climate and soil conditions, and their resilience to climate change.
“The plan, according to the memorandum of understanding, is to assist Bahamian farmers in improving and increasing their production, improving local food security and food sovereignty,” says Gibson. “The vision of the ministry and department is [for China] to assist us in helping to better equip Bahamian farmers to increase their own capacity.”
At the Bahamas’ Gladstone Road Agricultural Centre, greenhouses have been donated by the Chinese embassy, to be complemented by training and knowledge-sharing opportunities. Gibson says the latter are attended by technical staff from the islands’ department of agriculture, local farmers and schools with agriculture programmes.
“All the produce that they have gotten has been donated to charitable causes,” says Gibson. “We’ve used some of the peppers in our food technology lab for food processing. Our food technology lab is used to show farmers different agri-processes, different markets, processing [and] pickling.”
‘Holy trinity’
As the Bahamas moves to improve its self-sufficiency in food production, Gibson says the Chinese-backed project is part of a revival of the country’s “holy trinity” of crops: tomatoes, peppers and onions. Gibson says this trio currently hold the top spots for the most imported goods to the country.
Tomatoes and peppers are now being cultivated under this project. Gibson says this is cultivating the possibility of a future reboot of exports, of greater self-sufficiency, and value-added production.
“Ironically, the tomato, the sweet pepper and the onion are things that we once exported. And so, rebuilding those industries, those particular, crop-specific industries locally, would be ideal,” the director adds.
Gibson believes more attention should be paid to leafy greens, which he says are becoming an increasingly strong earner for the country thanks to ramped-up production: “I think we need to focus on those crops – our leafy greens. We [already] have quite a bit of lettuce production.
“From an agricultural perspective, I believe it gives hope to farmers to be able to help to pick up new methods or learn new things […] we really hope that it helps them to increase production.”
Gibson says the Bahamas can benefit from China’s agricultural technology and knowledge of sustainable practices, efficient fertiliser usage, and marketing experiences. He wants the partnership to evolve and focus on other specific crops that are key elements of the local diet and tourism industry.
Joint projects in Barbados and Dominica
Similar memorandums of understanding with Chinese partners have been signed in Barbados and Dominica.
In April 2024, the Barbados Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation signed three agreements with Zoomlion, a high-tech machinery manufacturer based in the city Changsha, central China. This will provide Barbados with two tractors, technical expertise on rice cultivation, and the creation of advanced hydroponics management systems. Other signatories included the Barbadian minister for agriculture, food, and nutritional security, Indar Weir, and the governor of Hunan, Mao Weiming.
This new agreement follows the establishment of the Upland Rice Project, a joint agricultural initiative between China and Barbados. Its trial plots at the Barbados Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation’s headquarters in Christ Church, southern Barbados, have already yielded successful harvests of upland rice (also known as dry rice). This has encouraged the Barbadian government to expand the project, to a six-hectare plot of land in the nearby Pine Basin area.
Weir says the successful trials means upland rice is suitable for Barbados, despite it being classified as a water-scarce country.
In Dominica, meanwhile, China has been providing agricultural support via new production technology for more than 10 years. In February 2024, the island received agricultural equipment worth USD 750,000, as part of the eighth phase of this cooperation project. This included hydroponic cultivation systems, greenhouse materials, seed propagation apparatus and tractors.
Barbadian and Dominican officials were approached for comment on these projects and relations, but no response was received.
Towards Caricom 2025
In 2022, nations under Caricom agreed to work towards reducing food imports, which are estimated to cost the Caribbean as a whole USD 6 billion per year. Territories soon signed a related agreement to reduce food imports by 25% by 2025.
Following disastrous hurricanes, however, some Caribbean islands’ food security efforts are being thwarted. For example, Hurricane Beryl’s arrival in early July 2024 racked up approximately USD 150 million in agricultural losses across Caricom member states.
President of Guyana Mohamed Irfaan Ali believes these challenges are not insurmountable. At a Caricom conference in July 2024, he affirmed: “We will be successful in reducing that food import bill and expanding our production.”
As heads of government gather this week in Barbados for Caricom’s annual meeting, the issue of food security will be high on the agenda. The country’s Prime Minister Mia Mottley, the meeting’s chair, is among those to have stressed the importance of food security as a priority for discussions.
In the lead-up to the event, figures involved with the 25% by 2025 food security initiative have sought to highlight some of its successes to date, in areas such as increased local production, growing national budget allocations towards agricultural programmes, inter-regional trade policies, progress in resilience projects, and efforts to attract private investment.
However, others have also described the likelihood of achieving the 25% by 2025 goal as “uncertain”, pointing to systemic barriers in logistics, trade and access to finance – an area in which Mottley has emerged as a leading voice in calls for global financial reform, in order to meet the needs of small developing nations vulnerable to climate change.
Caricom’s annual meeting runs from 19 to 21 February in Bridgetown, Barbados.
