The Last Mile of Food Security

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Slide 1 of 23#

Using the region's new data tools to lower the food-import bill by capturing more value from the farm

Caribbean Week of Agriculture 2026 · The New F.A.C.E. of Caribbean Food Systems: Transformation and Resilience Ocean Coral Springs, Trelawny · Environmental Solutions Limited

Presenter notes · slide 1

The moderator welcomes the room (3 min) and hands over at 0:03.

Slide 2 of 23#

For the first time, the region has eyes

CARICOM–WFP Caribbean Real-Time Food Security Monitoring Dashboard: live since 10 April 2025 in 11 member states
Regional Risk Analysis mechanism and E-Agriculture Strategy: adopted at COTED, CWA 2025
Precision agriculture and digital skills are named E-Agriculture pillars

CWA 2026 is the first time these exist as ratified policy needing implementation.

Source: CARICOM (Apr 2025); COTED 2025.

Presenter notes · slide 2

Credit CARICOM first. [Confirm what the Regional Risk Analysis mechanism covers.]

Slide 3 of 23#

Production rose. The bill held.

CARICOM reports regional food production up about 24%, 2022 to late 2024
The regional food-import bill is still more than US$6 billion a year
The 25% reduction target moved from 2025 to 2030

Source: CARICOM Secretariat (Feb 2025); UN Comtrade.

Presenter notes · slide 3

"This is the central evidence: growing more, on its own, has not closed the gap." Call it "agri-food imports," not "the food bill."

Slide 4 of 23#

The bill follows world prices, not our fields

Wheat: value US$84M → US$51M (~40% down); tonnes down only 8%
Corn: value US$122M → US$79M (35% down); tonnes down only 9%

Jamaica grows no wheat and very little corn. That US$76M fall came from world prices, not our farms.

We can't farm our way out of a grain bill. We can earn our way out of it.

Source: UN Comtrade (Jamaica, HS 1001, 1005).

No presenter notes for this slide.

Slide 5 of 23#

The winnable substitution is mostly won

Regional poultry output is heading for ~340,000 t, covering 80% of CARICOM's poultry consumption (2025)
Much of what's left is corn, soy, wheat and red meat: scale-driven commodities that most of our land can't grow competitively. Where the region can (Guyana's rice, corn and soy; Belize's beef), regional trade is the answer.

Source: Caribbean Poultry Association, 46th Board meeting (Oct 2025).

No presenter notes for this slide.

Slide 6 of 23#

Food security is a purchasing-power target

Not "How many tonnes did this acre produce?"

"How much of what this family eats did this acre pay for?"

A household is food-secure when the land it works generates enough value to command the food it consumes, whether it eats that food or sells what it grows and buys the rest.

A pepper turned into a finished product that earns an export premium funds far more imported nutrition than the same land in a staple it can never grow competitively.

Presenter notes · slide 6

This is the thesis the committee accepted. Say it with confidence. Bridge to CARICOM: the dashboard now tracks household access; this measures the farm end of the same question. It sits alongside the import-bill metric, not instead of it.

Slide 7 of 23#

Floor and engine

Staples floor	Value-add engine
Enough to eat through a hurricane or a closed border	Enough value per acre to buy the rest
Protects against trade shocks	Protects against local crop failure
Keeps you alive	Keeps you solvent

Hurricane Melissa tested both. Real food security needs both.

No presenter notes for this slide.

Slide 8 of 23#

The last mile: from signal to the buyer's hands

A signal in one capital doesn't change what a farmer plants, sprays or harvests this week, or whether the crop survives the trip to a buyer.

Climate and security act on every step. The records and test results that make the decision also travel with the produce.

Two-track last-mile model: decision track above, physical track below forking to fresh market and/or processing

Presenter notes · slide 8

This is where the audience's idea of the "last mile" (roads, storage, theft) meets the concept note's (data to decision). Both are the last mile; value is lost in either. The fork at the end matters: the best produce goes fresh, the rest is processed, and most farms will do both.

Slide 9 of 23#

Where value leaks after harvest

	2026 reality	What the last mile adds
Storage	J$9.4bn Essex Valley agro-processing and cold-storage facility handed over (Feb 2026): capacity for 22 containers	Grade and test before storage, so only sound produce takes up cold space
Transport	70 farm roads to be rehabilitated in 2026–27 after Melissa	Harvest timed to buyer and road access; the records travel with the load
Security	More than J$14 billion a year lost to agricultural theft; traceability is one of the Ministry's five response pillars	Recorded, tested lots with provenance from farm to point of sale
Climate	Production was heading for a record 930,000 t before Melissa hit 70,000+ farmers and fishers; drought followed in 2026	Signal-driven harvest, storage and processing decisions

Source: MoAFM and CDB (Feb 2026); JIS, post-Melissa agriculture strategy (2026); MoAFM, Minister of State Witter (11 Sep 2026); Gleaner (Aug–Sep 2026).

Presenter notes · slide 9

The theft point links straight to food safety: the Ministry warns that stolen crops are often harvested soon after spraying and sold before they're safe. A recorded pre-harvest interval and a tested lot are the answer.

Slide 10 of 23#

Last mile · all six steps

The last mile

Signal → Drone → Ground truth → Lab → Decision → Value

Presenter notes · slide 10

Introduce it in one line: "Here's what the last mile looks like, on Trelawny's own crop." The film carries a small "Illustrated" label; no further caveat is needed.

Slide 11 of 23#

Yam: Trelawny's crop

Jamaica's largest fresh-produce export
~195,000 t produced (2024); almost all exports leave as fresh tubers
Trelawny is a top yam parish

Which tubers ship and which are lost is decided in the field, in the last mile.

Source: UN Comtrade (HS 071430); Gleaner (Mar 2026); Economic and Social Survey Jamaica.

Presenter notes · slide 11

If asked about 2025, the trade data may still be revised.

Slide 12 of 23#

Rebuilding after Melissa: the 2026 recovery

J$100 million yam recovery programme across Trelawny, Manchester, Clarendon, St Ann, St James, Hanover and Westmoreland
65,000 kg of yam heads (planting material) and fertiliser going out to farmers
J$40 million to revive hot pepper: 80,000 seedlings
More than 70,000 farmers hit by the storm; a recovery the Ministry calls data-driven

65,000 kg of planting material is going into the ground. Who checks it's clean? Who tells a farmer in time when a field goes wrong?

Source: Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Mining (30 Apr 2026).

Presenter notes · slide 12

Credit the Ministry: this is the right investment. The last mile is what protects it. Yam nematodes spread through infested planting material (CABI).

Slide 13 of 23#

Last mile · Steps 1–3 of 6

Signal, drone, ground truth

The region publishes the signal
The drone finds where: which hills, which rows
The scout confirms what: vines, a test dig, where the planting setts came from

To add: regional drought or storm outlook for Trelawny

Drone flight lines (DJI Agriculture footage; yam-hill imagery to come)

No presenter notes for this slide.

Slide 14 of 23#

Last mile · Step 4 of 6

Laboratory confirmation

Test schedule

Test	Why	Against
Nematode screen of setts and soil	"Yam burn" starts with infested planting material	Presence and count
Fungicide residue on tubers	Cut setts are treated before planting	Importing country's limit (US tolerance / EU MRL)
Moisture, microbiology (processed products)	Shelf life and buyer's certificate	Buyer specification
Nutrition panel (processed products)	Label claims	Label rules
Aflatoxins, ochratoxin A, Salmonella (chilli powder)	What export buyers test dried chilli for	EU / US limits for spices [confirm]

Confirmation strong enough to act on, and a record an export buyer will accept. ESL's own pepper powder has just been through this: ESL and Bureau of Standards Jamaica analysis.

Presenter notes · slide 14

[Confirm each test is within ESL's ISO/IEC 17025 scope; mark any others "referred to partner lab".] No accreditation mark on the slide.

Slide 15 of 23#

Last mile · Step 5 of 6

The farm-level decision

Prepared for the extension officer: - Plant only screened setts; treat with a registered product at the label rate - Record the pre-harvest interval before harvest: stolen or rushed produce is often sold before it is safe - Grade at harvest: export-grade → fresh market; off-grade → processing; most farms will do both

The dashboard's signal, turned into an instruction a farmer can act on this week.

No presenter notes for this slide.

Slide 16 of 23#

Last mile · Step 6 of 6

Capturing the value: fresh, processed, or both

After harvest and grading, the physical track forks: - Fresh market: export-grade yam earns its premium fresh, if storage and transport hold its quality - Processing: off-grade, cut, small and storm-damaged tubers become frozen peeled yam and 100% Jamaican yellow yam flour: gluten-free, traceable, tested - Both: most farms will run both paths from the same harvest. Processing turns what would be lost in storage or transport into product.

Several best-selling UK "pounded yam" powders are mostly potato. A tested Jamaican yam flour is a premium product in a market that already exists.

Source: product labels (UK retail).

No presenter notes for this slide.

Slide 17 of 23#

Last mile · proof

The last mile, already working on pepper

Step	ESL Farms, Clarendon: Scotch bonnet and Moruga red
Signal	[in place / being connected]
Drone scouting	[in place / being connected]
Field diagnosis	[in place / being connected]
Accredited lab	Done: ESL and Bureau of Standards Jamaica analysis just completed
Farm decision	[in place / being connected]
Value (processing path)	Done: vacuum-packed powder; bulk-sale samples with buyers now

The Ministry is distributing 80,000 hot pepper seedlings to farmers in 2026. The last mile is what turns that crop into this.

Source: ESL Farms (2026); MoAFM (Apr 2026).

To add: vacuum-packed Scotch bonnet powder

To add: vacuum-packed Moruga red powder

Presenter notes · slide 17

Only mark a step "in place" if it is running today; otherwise "being connected". Honest gaps make the rest believable. Don't describe the drying setup; it's proprietary. If asked: "That part's ours. What matters for the model is the testing." This is the concept note's own example made real: "a pepper turned into a finished product that earns an export premium."

Slide 18 of 23#

Last mile · value

What is the last mile worth to your import bill?

Pepper, one acre (gross value before processing costs)

	Fresh, sold to processor	As tested powder	Multiple
Scotch bonnet	US$21,000	US$20,600–35,900	1.0–1.7×
Moruga red	US$10,500	US$40,900–48,100	3.9–4.6×

Moruga powder roughly quadruples an acre's value
Scotch bonnet powder only pays at a tested, traceable premium, and that premium is what the last mile delivers

Yam: every 1% of the crop kept from loss ≈ 1,950 t ≈ US$8.4M a year

Your country's version: (tonnes saved × value) + (value added per acre × acres), set against your import bill

Source: Yield 5,364 kg/acre: Agro-Invest Hot Pepper Profile (Nov 2025). Processor prices J$280/lb (Scotch bonnet) and J$140/lb (red), 8% conversion: ESL Farms (2026). Powder: online bulk-pack prices, Sept 2026 (see pepper_economics.md). J$157.93/US$ (28 Sep 2026). Yam: UN Comtrade 2024; Gleaner (Mar 2026).

Presenter notes · slide 18

Say "before processing costs" out loud. The honest Scotch bonnet result is the strongest argument for the last mile: without testing and traceability it's a commodity; with them it earns the premium. The Ministry's yield is the average for Scotch bonnet and West Indian Red; Moruga may differ [replace with ESL's Moruga yield if known]. Only promise a country worksheet if ESL will send it.

Slide 19 of 23#

Financing the last mile

Step	Who could pay
Regional signal	Public / regional institutions (already funded)
Drone scouting	Fee-for-service; development finance for equipment for youth- and women-led operators
Field diagnosis and extension decision	Ministries and extension services
Accredited laboratory	Buyer or exporter for export certification; a blended facility for smallholders
Cold storage and packhouses	Public and development partners (Essex Valley: GOJ, UK, CDB); fee-for-use
Farm roads	Public works (70 roads in 2026–27)
Security and traceability	JCF Agricultural Protection Branch; buyer-led record-keeping
Value-add processing	Private capital; development-bank credit lines

Presenter notes · slide 19

A proposal for the panel's development-finance seat to react to. It becomes the financing note.

Slide 20 of 23#

The last-mile reference model

Climate and security act on every step; records and test results travel with the produce
Every step uses technology and infrastructure already in the region
Every step can be run by youth- or women-led agribusinesses: drone scouting, field diagnostics, grading, cold-chain services, processing, farmer advisory
ESL provides two of these steps. Any accredited lab and any drone operator can run this model.

Presenter notes · slide 20

[Optional, if true: "ESL will not bid to run the pilot proposed today."]

Slide 21 of 23#

Panel

[Name] · CARICOM / IICA technical lead
[Name] · Agricultural economist
[Name] · National extension leader
[Name] · Development finance
[Name] · Youth- or women-led agribusiness operator

Moderator: [Name]

No presenter notes for this slide.

Slide 22 of 23#

What we're asking for

Within 12 months: - Name a pilot: one country, one value chain, one last-mile loop - Measure both: through the CARICOM Secretariat's Agricultural and Agro-Industrial Development Programme, put value funded per acre to COTED alongside the import-bill metric - Fund the steps: match each last-mile step to a funding source

[Commitments captured in the room: institution / 12-month action]

No presenter notes for this slide.

Slide 23 of 23#

Thank you

agweek2026.eslcaribbean.com/session

Last-mile reference model · financing note · farmer adoption framework · your country's worksheet [published by: date] Environmental Solutions Limited · [contact]

Source: UN Comtrade (Jamaica, 2022–2025); CARICOM Secretariat; Caribbean Poultry Association (Oct 2025); CARICOM–WFP Dashboard; MoAFM (Apr, Sep 2026); CDB (Feb 2026); JIS (2026); Gleaner (Mar–Sep 2026); ESSJ; ESL Farms.

No presenter notes for this slide.