Caribbean Agrifood Business Session n°19

Transforming Agrifood Systems: Opportunities for entrepreneurs in the Caribbean and Latin America

The agrifood sector in Latin America and the Caribbean is undergoing profound changes, driven by global trends, climate pressures, and evolving consumer demands. Rising food prices, energy and fertilizer costs, and supply chain disruptions, including those exacerbated by the war in Ukraine and the COVID-19 pandemic, are making access to nutritious and affordable food increasingly difficult. Across the region, disparities in production, nutrition, and market access shape food systems, with women, children, smallholder farmers, and urban poor populations being the most affected. At the same time, dependence on imported food leaves many Caribbean and Latin American countries vulnerable to external shocks, from natural disasters to economic volatility, creating both risks and opportunities for local agrifood entrepreneurs.

The sector is being reshaped by technology, climate, and changing markets. Climate change, through shifting rainfall, rising temperatures, and extreme events like floods, droughts, and hurricanes, is threatening productivity, food quality, and supply chain stability. Digital tools such as IoT sensors, drones, AI, automation, and blockchain are helping farmers and agribusinesses produce more efficiently, reduce losses, and build resilient, traceable supply chains. Consumers are increasingly demanding safe, nutritious, and sustainably produced foods, valuing transparency, ethical practices, and environmental responsibility.

The Caribbean and Latin American agrifood systems are very different: small, import-dependent, highly climate-vulnerable, and increasingly linked to tourism and resilience strategies in the Caribbean and large, export-driven, resource-abundant, and central to global food markets agrifood system in Latin America. However with regards to small and medium enterprises (SMEs), there appear to be a number of similarities.

In both regions, agrifood SMEs are mostly family-owned, small-scale enterprises and often informal. They struggle with credit constraints due to high collateral requirements, lack of tailored financial products, and limited investment-readiness; For the SMEs, access to working capital, insurance, and long-term investment remains a bottleneck. Agrifood SMEs often also face difficulty linking to larger markets, processors, and exporters. Further, SMEs have greater vulnerability to external shocks and climate events. SMEs in both regions often lack technical knowledge, business skills, and digital tools to upgrade production, improve efficiency, and access new markets. Finally, SMEs often operate in environments where policies, incentives, and support services are not tailored to their needs.

Despite constraints, SMEs in both regions are drivers of innovation in niche markets (organic products, agroecology, agro-tourism, processed foods). With respect to women and youth entrepreneurs operating these SMEs, they are especially dynamic, developing new products and services around food, gastronomy, and sustainability, and they play a critical role in employment and rural livelihoods.

Addressing these challenges requires a major transformation of the region’s food systems. Solutions must focus on boosting production by small and medium-scale farmers and SMEs, improving the nutritional quality of foods, and strengthening supply chains so that safe, affordable food is accessible by all.

The FAO’s Strategic Framework 2022–2031 and other regional initiatives emphasize building efficient, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable food systems. Guided by the four “betters” (better production, better nutrition, better environment, and better life), these frameworks encourage investment in small and medium-scale farming, technology adoption, sustainable practices, and improved supply chains. This transformation presents both challenges and opportunities for Caribbean and Latin American agrifood entrepreneurs. By innovating, leveraging technology, and offering organic, specialty, or value-added products, businesses can reduce import dependency, strengthen local value chains, capture higher-margin markets, and enhance regional food security while responding to evolving consumer preferences.

Yet, the full potential of entrepreneurship in the sector will only be realized if enabling conditions are strengthened. Governments, regional bodies, and development partners must work together to remove structural barriers, expand access to finance, investing in digital and physical infrastructure, harmonizing standards, and ensuring gender- and youth-inclusive policies.

By aligning entrepreneurial dynamism with supportive policies, sustainable practices, and inclusive strategies, Latin America and the Caribbean can move from vulnerability to leadership in building food systems that are efficient, sustainable, and just. The path ahead is clear: fostering collaboration across sectors, investing in resilience and technology, and placing people and the planet at the centre of food system transformation.