Trade, tenure and tourism in the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico: Understanding the Policy Frameworks that will increase success for an Organics Agriculture

Trade, tenure and tourism in the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico: Understanding the Policy Frameworks that will increase success for an Organics Agriculture

Summary

A study of policy constraints that limit the integration of a sustainable agriculture with tourism has determined that resource constraints of land, water, credit, and market information and coordination are important for the U.S. Virgin Islands. These constraints result in inconsistent quantity and quality of locally produced food for the hospitality industry. Data gathered from surveys of policy decision-makers, farmers, and the hospitality sector agree that a sustainable agricultural policy must address infrastructure and market information to improve the linkage between local food production and tourism hospitality.

Objectives/Performance Targets

This project explores a new priority area for SSARE, namely an analysis of policy, program evaluation and quality of life. The farming communities within USVI/PR are made up of many who do not have access to vast amounts of land. Their tenure is, for the most part, not based on land ownership and as such their capacity and incentive to conserve, protect or make substantial or expensive changes in production practices and methods is limited. So, to that extent, they are limited-resource farmers. The project objectives are aimed at increasing and encouraging growth in the organics and sustainable agriculture sector, particularly in its linkages with existing tourism sectors and other appropriate avenues that will encourage stabilization and growth of agriculture in the islands. Implicit in the goal of encouraging growth in the organics and sustainable agriculture sectors is the encouragement of environmentally sound agricultural practices and preservation and conservation of agricultural ecosystems in the islands. Finally, by encouraging and fostering growth in the organics and sustainable agriculture sectors, the marketing of agricultural products at the local-island level and the promotion of economic development within the islands by linking the local food system to the local tourism industry will necessarily be the avenue of choice.

Having demonstrated the cross-cutting nature of the proposed project (i.e., across multiple priority areas of the SSARE programming effort), the project directors and collaborators settled on the emerging priority area of: Policy, Program Evaluation, and Quality of Life as the priority area for this particular project. The thread that intertwines all goals and objectives of the project is the need to analyze different policy options available to the island agriculturalist in order to determine the potential for greatest achievement of the goals of encouraging local food in the tourism industry and increasing the presence of organics and sustainable agriculture within the island agricultural sector.

Policy identification and the process of evaluating different policy scenarios throughout the course of this project will give the Island participants the opportunity to determine the best avenues to address current policy situations and the clearest path to policy reforms that might be needed in order to encourage organic and sustainable agriculture in linkage with the local tourism industry. Objectives of the project include: 1) conduct research and analysis of policy constraints/barriers to enhance agricultural market development, particularly in organics and agricultural products in sustainable production systems, in general; 2) conduct research and analysis of the policy constraints/barriers, opportunities and potential economic impact for increases in organic and sustainable marketing specifically within the tourism sectors in both the USVI/PR; and 3) transmittal/outreach of project findings to the agricultural, trade and tourism sectors throughout USVI/PR.

The project team will meet regularly to review progress and constraints in achieving project goals. Meetings will be accomplished via telephone conference call and with in-person meetings on a regular basis. The effectiveness of this project will be determined in a number of ways. Our criteria will be compared to contributions reported by survey respondents (e.g., did we identify all relevant subject areas for exploration or did respondents enlighten us further into our study). Survey demographic results will be compared to information from the official agricultural statistical survey sources, as well as other relevant sources, to determine if consistencies exist across data collection methods. Requests for information will be monitored. Information gained at the end of the project as to policies impacted, plans for change and linkages encouraged (especially involving keys and barriers to success) will be monitored beyond the project time frame (should resources permit).

Effectiveness of the project in gaining participation from those affected in the USVI/PR will be determined through responses to survey instruments, participation in focus group sessions, and through participation in an end-phase symposium on the issues. Surveys from participants at the end-phase symposium on the issues will be analyzed to determine effectiveness of the program in achieving desired results and will be incorporated into follow on activities that result from this project. Evaluation of the effectiveness of this project in achieving increased success in the organics/sustainable agriculture arena, particularly in making connections between that industry and the tourism industry, will be measured at the beginning and the end of the project by surveys. These surveys will be designed to elicit data that will gauge participation on the part of producers in providing agricultural product to the tourism industry and gauging participation and interest by the tourism industry in purchasing locally produced agricultural products. Ultimately, the success of the project will be measured by the overall analysis of policy impact and whether key policies were identified for change and finally whether change occurred that would herald an improved situation for sustainable agriculture, the local producer and the organic sector growth.

Accomplishments/Milestones

Questionnaires were developed to administer to three groups based on focus group discussions (FGD) with each group that were conducted in the U.S Virgin Islands between September and October 2005. The three groups for which questionnaires were developed included:

1)local farmers/producers,
2)restaurant/hotel owners/managers, and
3)policy decision-makers.

The producer/farm questionnaire includes questions about production and interest in production of specific products, concerns about production constraints, concerns about marketing constraints, marketing methods, participation or interest in participation in farmer associations and pilot projects with hotels/restaurants, methods to encourage local food/hospitality linkages, and the role that government policy should have.

The hospitality sector questionnaire includes questions about purchasing and interest in purchasing locally produced foods by specific products, methods of purchase, methods of promoting use of local foods in the establishment’s cuisine, concerns about ability to purchase local foods, interest in participating in a pilot project with local farmers, methods to encourage local food/hospitality linkages, and the role that government policy should have.

The policy decision-maker questionnaire includes questions about perceptions of local food production and marketing constraints, methods to encourage local food/hospitality linkages, and the role that government policy should have.

The objective of questionnaires and surveys of study stake-holders is to collect in-depth information to be used as the basis for characterizing attitudes, perceptions and interest in policy and technical constraints and solutions to integrating a sustainable local agriculture with the hospitality sector. Based on an analysis of the survey data, reports and policy recommendations will be developed and presented at a conference that includes the stakeholders. The information will also provide the basis for developing project reports. The reports will address the following:

1)Identify key issues that are pertinent to the development of sustainable agricultural – tourism industries in the US Virgin Islands,
2)Generate ideas about major constraints for the development of sustainable agricultural-tourism linkages in the US Virgin Islands,
3)Generate ideas for improving policy environments to create agriculture and tourism linkages.

A draft report that reviews the legislative background and current laws regulating agriculture in the US Virgin Islands has been prepared. This review provides a recitation of the role and responsibilities of the Commissioner of Agriculture and related agencies, a review of the most current law on encouragement of agriculture and sustainability, a review of related literature on agritourism on mainland U.S. and Canada.

It is noteworthy that one of the principal investigators of the project was appointed to be the Commissioner of Agriculture in 2007. One of the participants in the 2005 focus group study of the hospitality sector was named to be the Commissioner of Tourism. One of the participants of the focus group study of policy decision-makers was elected Governor of the U.S. Virgin Islands for 2007. All three of these influential policy decision-makers have indicated an eagerness for the results of the project to be presented formally to the government at a conference to be held in the final year of the project.

Impacts and Contributions/Outcomes

This research has raised awareness among the stakeholders in the U.S. Virgin Islands on the potential for development of linkages between sustainable agriculture and tourism. In February 2006 the Agriculture and Food Fair of the U.S. Virgin Islands was held on St. Croix with the theme of “Agriculture and Tourism: The Perfect Mix in 2006”. http://www.viagrifest.org/

This awareness and strategies for policy to improve the linkages between agriculture and tourism will be further developed through project reports and a project conference in 2007.

Collaborators: