KINGSTON, Jamaica, Oct. 1, CMC – Agriculture Minister Floyd Green is calling for a regional framework to facilitate the movement of agricultural workers across the Caribbean, saying the approach could help address labour shortages and increase food production.
“I think we need a framework, a framework that works for the movement of agricultural workers across the region,” Green said.
He pointed to Dominica as a possible model, saying the country has established a system for agricultural migrant workers that has brought about 200 workers into the country, benefiting approximately 80 farmers and contributing to increased productivity.
Green was speaking during a plenary session on “Unlocking Private Sector Partnerships and Expanding Investments in Agriculture and Fisheries Development” at Caribbean Week of Agriculture 2026 in the northern parish of Trelawny.
Responding to a question about the difficulty farmers across the region face in finding workers, 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 agricultural workers to take up employment in neighbouring Caribbean countries while giving farmers greater access to available labour.
Green acknowledged that such a system would require appropriate oversight and said he intends to raise the issueat the Caribbean Community’s Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED).
At the same time, he said the region must increase its use of technology as 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,” Green said.
He pointed to agricultural drones as one example of technology that could reduce reliance on manual labour and improve efficiency.
Through the Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA), Jamaica has invested in four drones that farmers can rent along with trained operators. 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 cited the growing use of small walk-behind tractors and said artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies should form part of the region’s response to changing labour patterns.
Belize’s Agriculture, Food Security and Enterprise Minister Rodwell Ferguson said his country is facing a similar challenge.
He said Belize once relied heavily on agricultural workers from neighbouring Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, but fewer young Belizeans are now entering agriculture as more have gained access to secondary and tertiary education.
Ferguson said the rise of AI and smart agriculture could help address the labour shortage while making the sector more attractive to younger people.
He noted that agriculture is compulsory for students in the first and second forms in Belize but becomes an elective in the third and fourth forms, when participation can fall to about five students.
“It is critical. It is crucial because we must be able to feed ourselves,” Ferguson said.
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