Complexities Of Agricultural Development In the Caribbean By Darshan S. Padda, Ph. D. Vice President, Research and Land-Grant Programs University of the Virgin Islands Projections for Caribbean agriculture indicate that inter- national competition in commodity markets, foreign ex- change needs, demands for improved diets and population growth make it advantageous for the region to develop the capacity to considerably increase production. Capacity to produce is not the same as actual production. This is true in the case of the Caribbean region in general, and the U.S. Virgin Islands in particular. Improved technology, resulting from agricultural research, can increase production and help better marketing techniques only when knowledge of the technology is transferred to the farmers. One basic concept, most misunderstood in the devel- oping countries, is that agricultural development does not comprise production alone. In order to develop agriculture on a sustained basis, production and marketing must be considered as equally important and interdependent func- tions. We have seen agricultural development fail in the U.S. Virgin Islands because production was emphasized without any consideration given to marketing. The rela- tionship of production and marketing, as equal contrib- utors in agricultural development, is illustrated in Figure 1. Once this important relationship between production and marketing contributing equally to the successful agri- cultural development is established, I wish to discuss three forces that impact on the successful production and mar- keting of agricultural products. These are research, edu- cation and farm management. In the U.S. Virgin Islands, as well as in the Caribbean region, constraints on land, water and energy require an ability to shift agricultural systems to rely more on science and technology, better management and human skills and, of course, well-defined and better taxation and credit policies. Agricultural development is no longersimple. Those days are behind us when successful raising of crops and livestock constituted viable agriculture. Agriculture has undergone changes where it is no longer a rural way of life. Present-day agriculture is an industry -an industry based on nine prime factors, as illustrated in Figure II, which includes crops sys- tems, farm finance, agricultural policy, human expertise, marketing, information systems, water, soil and animal sys- tems. These nine factors are self-explanatory and, for the sake of space, will not be discussed in this article. However, these nine factors are impacted for success or failure by three main forces for agricultural development. These three forces or impactors, as mentioned before, are: Technology Development (Research), Technology Transfer (Education) and Farm Management. Technology development through agricultural research is basic to keeping agricultural industry on a competitive basis by continuously improving production and marketing inputs like seeds, plants, animals, machines and chemicals. Whereas most of the developing countries, including many Caribbean islands, need to build their agricultural research capacities, the U.S. Virgin Islands is in relatively good shape. The Virgin Islands' Agricultural Experiment Station, during a rather short span of time, has developed technologies which, if utilized, can significantly improve agriculture in the territory, as well as in the region. But, unless these production technologies and marketing techniques are transferred to and used by farmers and agri- businesses, no real advance can occur. In this respect, there are a wide range of different situations within the Carib- bean. And some island countries have good agricultural development policies, have land and water available, but are handicapped due to the lack of agricultural education Figure I: Production and Marketing as Equal Contributors to the Agricultural Development.