The Quest for Increased Food Production

 in the Caribbean


Mokiwa A. Kigoda
Research Assistant
 Department of Agricultural Economics
 University of Missouri, Columbia, MO


 The issue of economic incentives and improved technology
for increasing small farmers' food production has dominated
the small farming systems in the developing world.
 However, the agricultural policies for small farmers en-
counter priority problems in the form of major constraints on
food production. The question is either to: (1) concentrate on
increased output prices and input subsidies, or (2) replace
crude tool technology (hand hoe, bush machete, etc.) with
bottleneck-breaking technology in order to increase small
farmers' food production.
 Recommendations favor increased output prices to increase
food production. In labor surplus, hand hoe technology-


Melvin G. Blase
 Professor


oriented economies, prices paid to food producers affect out-
put up to a level dictated by physical and technical factors.
Crude tool technology creates physical constraints upon the
supply of food and limits the production capacity.
 A study using linear programming indicated little or no ad-
ditional food production is likely to be forthcoming due to
labor shortages for key activities during crop year, e.g.,
weeding, harvesting, etc. In order to obtain sustained in-
creases in food production, it is necessary to introduce bottle-
neck-breaking technology that performs better than crude tool
technology now being used. This should precede the other
policies to ensure increased levels of food production.


The need to increase food production in the Caribbean countries
is obvious. The area has an average annual per capital food import
bill of US$200 and only 56% of the population receives the inter-
nationally recommended minimum daily level of protein intake.
In 1980 the regional food imports were estimated at US$700
million (Courier, 1983). Clearly, inadequate food production is a
major problem for the area.
 The question faced by many developing regions, including this
one, is how to effectively increase food output. Some economists
advocate increasing prices to provide farmers with additional
incentives. Others maintain that the most efficient procedure is to
provide subsidies to increase the use of purchased inputs. Still other
authorities contend that research must be undertaken to identify
more efficient methods of production. Suffice it to say, the alter-
natives are numerous. The choice among them is not obvious.





Farming Systems in Relation to Government
Agricultural Policies
 The so-called "farming systems" approach is basically oriented
to the needs of small, peasant farmers. The social and economic
environment of small, peasant farmers is characterized by insuffi-
cient resources at their command, i.e., a limited supply of land,
capital and technical knowledge. Frequently they are trapped in a
circle of poverty. Further, malnutrition, hunger and-at
times-famine characterize their circumstances. Different sets of
agricultural policies have been formulated in an attempt to help
small farmers increase their level of food crop production.
However, these policies must deal with the problem of priorities,
i.e., output price supports versus input subsidies versus improved
technology.


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A Methodological Approach to the Problem
 A study, representative of Caribbean traditional farming con-
ditions, undertaken with actual data from an African country,
was done to determine the impact of increased producer prices,
reduced input costs, and improved technology on increasing food
crop production from the small farm agricultural sector (Kigoda,
1984).
 A linear programming model of an entire region was used on a
 comparative basis between the existing production conditions
 and improved production conditions. Existing production condi-
 tions were used as a proxy for traditional agriculture commonly
 used by peasant producers. Traditional agricultural conditions
 distinguish themselves from improved ones in the sense that the
 latter utilizes a wide range of inputs, many of which are highly
 complementary to each other. These include not only conven-
 tional inputs such as land, labor and certain forms of capital but
 also other complementary inputs less conventionally noted by
 agricultural economists and policy makers. These are largely of a
 technical, educational and institutional sort (Mellor, 1962). Im-
 proved production conditions in the study, therefore,
 represented technology that had been determined to be physical-
 ly possible in research trials for the region under study. It was
 assumed to be profitable, but as yet had not been adapted by
 food producers. The analysis was designed to determine:
 1. How efficiently the region used resources given the existing
 conditions, and
 2. Whether existing production resources can produce more
 output in response to the policy alternative considered,
 assuming farmers are profit maximizers.
 Parametric programming, a post optimal analysis, was used to
see the impact of increased prices above the current price levels
paid to small food producers. The analysis also was used to see the
impact of reduced input costs (a subsidy) on increasing food pro-
duction.

 VOL. XX-PROCEEDINGS of the CARIBBEAN FOOD CROPS SOCIETY