Linking Farmers and Agro-processors to the Tourism Industry in the Eastern Caribbean
The main objective of this Economic and Sector Work (ESW) is to identify opportunities for stronger linkages between domestic agricultural supply chains and the tourism sector in the OECS, and to outline priority interventions with potential to str...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Language: | English en_US |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2016
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2015/12/25752655/linking-farmers-agro-processors-tourism-industry-eastern-caribbean http://hdl.handle.net/10986/23669 |
| Summary: | The main objective of this Economic and
Sector Work (ESW) is to identify opportunities for stronger
linkages between domestic agricultural supply chains and the
tourism sector in the OECS, and to outline priority
interventions with potential to strengthen these linkages.
Since this topic has been analyzed in a number of studies,
the approach for this ESW is not to conduct yet another
comprehensive study. Instead, the goal is to validate and
build on previous work through detailed field interviews
with a selected sample of ‘game changers in the private and
public sectors, and to come up with priority areas of focus
and investments. The continued focus on strengthening the
agriculture-tourism linkages is appropriate given the
unexploited possibilities for increasing the share of
locally sourced food purchased by the tourism sector and
reducing the growing food import bill. The studies also
identified specific types of food with potential to satisfy
demand from the tourism sector. Both studies caution,
however, that the potential for local production to replace
imports is limited, given the regions agro-climatic
conditions and price competitiveness. The World Bank, FAO
study estimated that the scope to substitute tourism import
demand by local produce is limited to around 11 percent of
hotel food imports, equivalent to approximately 2 percent of
the total food import bill. The study estimated that the
annual ‘leakage of the tourism sector in fresh products
could be reduced by about US$10 million, arguing that local
and regional markets have greater potential to lower the
food import bill. |
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