Government Support of Food Marketing in the
Eastern Caribbean
 The governments of the islands of the Eastern Caribbean play a
significant role in promoting food production and marketing ac-
tivities. The main focus of government support is in the area of
legislative and economic infra-structure for agricultural industry.
These efforts include securing markets for the industry, assisting
with transportation, providing industry information and
technical assistance, and establishing farm product pricing.
 For instance, members of CARICOM established a regional
public enterprise called Caribbean Food Corporation to operate
as a commercial enterprise. It is charged with the responsibility to
have as its objectives the production, processing, storage,
transportation, distribution, and marketing of food. More
specifically, it is charged with responsibility to identify, plan and
implement all stages of agricultural production schemes; to
mobilize funds, technical and managerial skills inside and out-
side the region; and to promote, finance and implement
agricultural production schemes. Further, it is required to
organize and facilitate the bulk of agricultural inputs, as well as
marketing and other services associated with agricultural produc-
tion schemes. The Corporation had an authorized capitalization
of $100 million with an initial issue of $10 million.
 Another government sponsored organization in the region
which could have a significant impact on food consumption in
the Caribbean islands is the Caribbean Food and Nutrition In-
stitute. This, too, was established by CARICOM. Through the
Institute, it is hoped that consumption habits of the islands'
populations will change in order to increase nutrition and reduce
dependence on externally produced food for which there are local
substitutes.
 Governments have also established and maintained
agricultural cooperatives, marketing boards and in the case of the
Windward Islands, WINBAN (Windward Islands Banana
Association) was formed to provide production and marketing of
banana, which is the chief agricultural export of these islands.
 Other major instruments of regional agricultural cooperation
are Agricultural Marketing Protocol (AMP) and Oils and Fats
Agreement (OFA). The AMP represents intra-regional trade pro-
motion for 22 items comprising vegetables, fruits and some meat
products. It requires each island to declare its estimated surpluses
and deficits of the listed items twice a year. The AMP committee of
officials then allocates markets among all the territories.

Membership in Common Markets
 Finally, membership in common markets and marketing
agreements with other countries can present a valuable oppor-
tunity to Eastern Caribbean islands to enhance their food
marketing strategies. Such arrangements provide markets in
which the food commodities of the islands are protected from un-
favorable market forces such as stiff competition, tariffs, and
commodity price fluctuations.
 Every island in the Eastern Caribbean benefits from some kind
of bilateral or multilateral arrangement with other countries.
These arrangements include CARICOM, the Caribbean Basin In-
itiative, African Caribbean and Pacific Countries (ACP), the
Lome Agreement, and the European Common Community
(ECC). Under the Lome Agreement, for instance, over 99% of
ACP products can enter the ECC with exemption from customs
duties.
 Thus far, the paper has dealt with factors which have a positive
influence in developing effective marketing strategies for the
economies of the Eastern Caribbean islands. These factors include
the existence of a substantial demand for food commodities in
both the intra-island sector of the island market as well as in the
inter-island and island-to-mainland market sectors. Other factors
beneficial to island food trade are the natural resources, abun-


dant supply of cheap labor, government support, and belonging
to the common market. The next phase in developing effective
marketing strategies is to examine some of the major constraints
facing food marketing in the region.


Constraints to Marketing Food in
the Eastern Caribbean
In spite of the apparent substantial opportunities for marketing
food that exist in the Eastern Caribbean islands, as presented in
the foregoing analysis, food marketing is far from desired levels.
In The Caribbean Community in the 1980's (Chernic), a group of
leading experts in the region concluded that agricultural
marketing was a "weak area in domestic food production and in
export agriculture of the non-traditional type."
 Therefore, effective food marketing strategies for the Eastern
 Caribbean have to recognize and counter those factors which con-
 strain the marketing function. Among the leading constraints
 are:
 1. Constrained production systems;
 2. Undersized markets;
 3. Underdeveloped distribution systems;
 4. Legal restrictions on trade;
 5. Impact of external economic forces; and
 6. Inadequate market information base.

Constrained Production Systems
 One of the major constraints on food production systems in
island economies is the size of farms. As Jainarain notes in Trade
and Underdevelopment (1976), farms are generally too small to
be economic. As a result, farmers are often forced by economic
demands to engage in non-farm activities. Such a practice does,
of course, contribute to poor farm production. Other factors
noted byJainarain (1976) as constraints to the production systems
are:
 1. Low levels of income in the agricultural sector; consequent-
 ly, the sector is constrained in attracting and keeping
 quality personnel;
 2. A historical stigma attached to agriculture, a stigma rein-
 forced by the low level of income in the agricultural sector;
 likewise, attracting and keeping quality people in the in-
 dustry becomes problematic which often leads to low yields
 and high production costs.
 3. Low level of management and husbandry; for instance,
 apart from sugar and rice, a great many crops are inter-
 planted; many crops are planted on lands for which they
 are not suited;
 4. Poor pricing policy by marketing corporations and
 marketing boards;
 5. Lack of sufficient linkages between the food production
 sector and the rest of the economy; and
 6. Over-dependence of islands on imported foods which
 could be produced locally.

Undersized Markets
 Market opportunities for food and crop produce discussed
earlier notwithstanding, a major constraint to marketing food in
island economies is a lack of economically large-sized markets for
the produce. Given that most islands have small populations as
compared to continental economies, island markets are often too
small to optimize on the benefits of economies of scale. Conse-
quently, local production of many food items often surpasses the
demand in the intra-island market segment. With supply ex-
ceeding demand, these food items have to deal with depressed
prices in the home market. The economic and psychological im-
plications for this phenomenon would normally constrain
marketing efforts in the domestic sector of the market.


PROCEEDINGS of the CARIBBEAN FOOD CROPS SOCIETY-VOL. XX


274