Guyana’s Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha named Belize a key contributor to Caribbean food security at the National Agriculture and Trade Show 2026 in Belmopan on 30 April, as the region’s flagship production target enters a second extension.
The recognition carries weight precisely because of the context surrounding it. CARICOM’s 25 by 2025 Initiative, which targeted a 25 percent reduction in the region’s food import bill of more than US$6 billion, missed its original deadline and was formally extended to 2030 at the 48th Heads of Government meeting in Barbados in February 2025. Climate shocks, persistent trade barriers, and uneven production capacity across member states were cited as the reasons. The initiative has been renamed 25 by 2025 +5, but the arithmetic remains the same: the region imports most of what it eats, and the countries capable of changing that are few.
Belize is one of them. Minister Mustapha pointed to Belize’s fertile lands, strong farming traditions, and commitment to innovation as factors that make it a critical contributor to advancing the region’s agricultural agenda, and highlighted the country’s progress under the 25 by 2025 +5 framework specifically. Mustapha also met with representatives of BELCAR during the visit, touring grain, feed, and oils operations and discussing agro-processing opportunities and supply chain development.
The Guyana-Belize relationship on food security has been building for some time. In February 2026, President Dr. Irfaan Ali travelled to Belize and called on both countries to take the lead in strengthening regional food production, urging Caribbean nations to dismantle the bureaucratic and artificial trade barriers that continue to disadvantage regional farmers and limit intra-Caribbean food exports. Ali, who serves as the CARICOM Lead Head of Government with responsibility for Agriculture and Food Security, has staked considerable political capital on the region closing its production gap. That he and his agriculture minister are publicly anchoring that ambition to Belize says something about where the credible production base is seen to lie.
The trade dimension is where the real friction remains. A country can grow food and still not feed its neighbours efficiently. The Bahamas’ launch of its Opportunity Hub: Trade + Access to Global Markets in late April 2026 reflects the same underlying problem from a different angle. Production and market access are separate constraints, and the region has historically struggled with both simultaneously. Belize has production. What converts that advantage into regional food security is the infrastructure connecting Belizean supply to CARICOM demand, and that infrastructure, commercial and logistical, is still incomplete.
The energy dimension is also relevant here, though it tends to be discussed separately. Affordable power is a prerequisite for food processing, cold storage, and agro-industrial development. La Caribeña News examined those links in the context of Guyana’s gas-to-energy programme in Guyana’s Gas Gambit: Leader or Laggard on Power Sector Transparency? The question of whether cheaper energy will translate into expanded agro-processing capacity in Region Three and beyond is one the region has not yet answered.
What is clear from Belmopan is that the political narrative around 25 by 2030 is consolidating around a small number of producer countries carrying the weight for a larger bloc. Belize has accepted that role, at least rhetorically. Whether the trade policy reforms and regional financing mechanisms extend to support it in practice will determine whether this recognition produces results before the next deadline is due.