San Pedro Sula — The Cayman Islands’ Ministry of Agriculture is seeking to establish direct agricultural trade links with Honduras in an effort to strengthen the island nation’s food and nutrition security.
The move follows an exploratory mission to Honduras earlier this month, led by Agriculture Minister Jay Ebanks, who was accompanied by government officials and representatives of the private sector from the British overseas territory, which is located northwest of Jamaica.
During the visit, the team met with La Ceiba’s mayor, Bader Dip, to discuss increasing trade, as well as with representatives of the Chamber of Commerce and Industries of Atlantis (CCIA) and industry executives.
“We rely heavily on the United States for our fruit, produce and other goods. With the rising cost of living, the government is committed to exploring various avenues to lessen the burden on the people of the Cayman Islands,” Ebanks said, adding that the mission to Honduras was fruitful as a means of establishing business connections between the two countries.
The cost of living in Grand Cayman, the largest of the three Cayman Islands, is 178% more expensive than in São Paulo, Brazil, according to estimates by the Expatistan platform.
Ebanks added that the island is looking at opening a direct shipping route between the two markets by the end of the year, in an effort to diversify food sources in line with the government’s food and nutrition security policy,
Honduras is one of the target countries due to its proximity and the strong cultural ties with the Caribbean.
“Honduras could supply agricultural products, which are fresh, low-cost, nutritional and of high quality. We have a direct air link with them, and the next logical step is the establish a trade route between the two countries,” Ebanks said.
Regional trade
For his part, Eric Bush, director of the Cayman Islands’ Ministry of International Trade, Aviation and Maritime Affairs, said that expanding intra-regional trade is critical to the territory’s food security and economic stability.
“The ministry will work closely with the private sector to determine the needs of the Islands, and to assist and support logistics to make the trade bridge as seamless and effortless as possible,” Bush added.
While in Honduras, the delegation also toured several dairy farms, meat packing plants, and food processing plants in San Pedro Sula and Puerto Cortés, and the port of La Ceiba.
“We can provide a huge benefit, because a large part of Cayman’s imports are from the United States, and often those products come from Honduras, and are shipped to the US and then to the Cayman Islands. Instead of taking that long route and making products more expensive, they can leave directly from La Ceiba,” the port’s mayor Bader Dip told local media.
Cayman Airways has a weekly flight connecting Golosón International Airport in La Ceiba with Owen Roberts International Airport in the Cayman Islands, using a new fleet of Boeing 737-800 aircraft.