09.04.2013 Views

Turks and Caicos Islands

Turks and Caicos Islands

Turks and Caicos Islands

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

Create successful ePaper yourself

Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.

<strong>Caicos</strong> Isl<strong>and</strong>s stems from the fact that the sector is fragmented by nature, with farmers scattered across<br />

the various isl<strong>and</strong>s <strong>and</strong> farming is done on a very small scale; this limits the capacity for agricultural<br />

advancement <strong>and</strong> for enabling food security.<br />

4.3.8. Economic Vulnerability: Climate Change & Agricultural Outputs in the<br />

<strong>Turks</strong> & <strong>Caicos</strong> Isl<strong>and</strong>s<br />

Given the limited investment in agriculture in <strong>Turks</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>Caicos</strong>, only one or two commercial farms are likely<br />

to endure substantial losses from the variability associated with climatic conditions. The dem<strong>and</strong> for local<br />

produce far outweighs supply (TCI Invest, 2009) <strong>and</strong> TCI trade statistics (2009) shows the <strong>Turks</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>Caicos</strong><br />

Isl<strong>and</strong>s is a net- food importing country, with imports amounting to more than US $63 million in 2008. The<br />

main imports were fruits <strong>and</strong> vegetables (28.5%), meals <strong>and</strong> meat preparations (24%) <strong>and</strong> cereals (15%).<br />

The economic vulnerability of <strong>Turks</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>Caicos</strong> to climate change is directly related to its heavy<br />

dependence on food imports. Nationals have very little resilience for food supply in the event of decreased<br />

availability from their source markets (the U.S., Haiti <strong>and</strong> Dominican Republic) especially if the shortage is<br />

due to an extreme weather event.<br />

59

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!