Policy Brief: Policy actions to facilitate upgrading of the agricultural sector in Trinidad and Tobago

For many countries, the acceleration of integration into the global economy and multilateral trading system provides an opportunity to access a wider range of goods and services as well as export markets, increasing their economic incomes, and improving the welfare of the citizenry. In particular, preferential trade agreements tend to increase export market access opportunities for the agro-industrial products of developing countries. While increased market access offers many opportunities for enhancing the economic growth of exporting countries, developing countries are often unable to seize these opportunities due to supply-side constraints and other challenges. Among these are bottlenecks in production and distribution networks, intense competition from other global exporters, quality standards, Sanitary and Phyto-Sanitary (SPS) requirements and other non-tariff measures (NTMs) erected in major export markets. Expansion in global production and trade has increasingly been fueled by global value chains (GVCs), thereby fragmenting the production process and offering up opportunities for participation in segments. If the intended benefits of the liberalization of international trade in agricultural products are to accrue to small developing economies like Trinidad and Tobago, there is need for the adoption of a comprehensive approach to value chain management... Accordingly, this policy brief takes a look at the structure and performance of the agriculture industry in Trinidad and Tobago; and considers policy action to facilitate upgrading of the sector where necessary to improve its competitiveness and participation in global and regional value chains.