Virtual agricultural clearing house programme to facilitate local food procurement in Saint Lucia

With 60 to 70% of sourced products coming from imports, local agricultural produces are not effectively penetrating the marketplace within the hospitality sector in Saint Lucia. In 2014, the SLHTA (Saint Lucia Hotel & Tourism Association) took on the challenge of identifying the reasons why the local supply chain was not the first choice for tourism professionals.

Meetings were organised between the Ministry of Agriculture, approx. 80 farmers (representing both individual producers and some small cooperatives) along with chefs and purchasing agents from the hospitality industry.

The exchanges revealed primarily that there was no commonly understood information flow about what is available and from who locally. There was also poor knowledge on the variety and abundance of fruits and vegetables being produced in Saint Lucia. There was clearly an opportunity to bridge the gap between producers and consumers of agricultural produce in Saint Lucia.