Recommendations

The incorporation of gender-sensitive and participatory planning methods will enhance the content and coverage of information in respect of constraints and opportunities for the intensification and diversification of agricultural enterprises in the region. Inevitably, the adoption of holistic policy design approaches and the establishment of supporting institutional and regulatory mechanisms will provide safeguards against the distortion of reality within the rural and agricultural economy. Within the context of a re-conceptualized and gender-aware agricultural development framework, Caribbean economies will gain the elasticity and resilience necessary for prosperity in an increasingly liberalized and competitive international trading environment. 1) Policy reform: There is very little gender-specific data to substantiate claims regarding the impact of trade liberalization on the lives of women and men in the Caribbean. However, it is recognized that womens limited access to requisite resources and their almost exclusive responsibility for social reproduction fetters their potential capacity to take advantage of emerging opportunities in the formal market. As such women are increasingly at risk of exploitation and unfair treatment, due to the negation of the contribution to the subsistence mode of production to sustainability of trade liberalization and market access initiatives. Strategic policy measures, particularly those directed at productivity enhancement, have failed to adequately address the fundamentals of process innovation and product differentiation. In order for Caribbean Governments to increase international competitiveness, the decisionmaking structure and policy development mechanisms, at both the national and regional levels, need to be transformed with the active participation of those so affected. In this context, traditionally top-down and inherently elitist styles of development administration currently have little relevance. There is therefore the urgent need to formulate and implement social and institutional policies and programs that are oriented towards the deepening of participatory democracy. In this regard, capacity building needs to be done both vertically and horizontally in order to create a sustainable human resource base for development. A cautionary note however is that the training of line staff will become a frustration, if managers and supervisors are not responsive and supportive of their needs. Creating an environment supportive of such action is therefore a key part of building capacity for agricultural transformation and gender considerations in Jamaican economies. Finding entry points, building organizational capacity and developing confidence to act and assist with priority setting will undoubtedly allow all stakeholders to take ownership of the change process, as well as the management of the resources available to them. 2) Bridging diverse economies and data gaps: Essentially the shift from land to capital as the prime resource base for development effected fundamental changes in the relations of production. The self sustaining capabilities of the rural and agricultural sector within Caribbean economies are recognizably exploited in the pursuit of trade liberalization and market expansion. However there continues to be a struggle to recognize the value of the care economy, in the milieu of globalization which seeks out perfect

competition and profit maximization. In the predominantly agrarian economies of the Caribbean, the dynamics of the rural and household economy are at variance with the principles of the free market. Therefore for rational development to occur, the co-existence of diverse economies and modalities for transacting business within Caribbean economies must be reconciled and duly integrated. It is argued that ideology and economics are the principal factors contributing to the devaluation of female gender work, which our societies have taken for granted, but cannot do without. The deep-seated ambiguity in the definition of economic and non-economic worth, which is ultimately reflected in the system of national accounting and the indicators of economic progress serve to obscure the real contribution of the rural and agricultural sector to the economy of the Caribbean countries. The internalization of the concepts of equity and fairness is therefore fundamental to the process of gender-based planning for agricultural development in Jamaica. In this context, the prejudice and sexist mentalities, which uphold the genderneutrality of globalization, must be replaced by a commitment to bridge the gender divide between the care economy and the market economy in Caribbean societies. In seeking to bridge this diversity that is the economy of Caribbean countries, the main challenge is that of guaranteeing fair trade in a prevailing unfair trading environment. At the regional, national, community and household levels, numerous ways and means are relentlessly employed to counteract the complexities of the situation and to derive solutions. Concerted efforts are needed now to ensure that the mix of approaches pay due attention to the value of social justice and gender justice above economic equity. 3) A gender responsive agricultural sector: Despite the efforts made to incorporate gender disaggregated data in agricultural census undertaken in the region in the past decade, there continues to be a lack of appropriate gender disaggregated data sets. In this scenario, the process of analyzing the gender dimensions of the current transformation of the agricultural sector and impending impacts of agricultural trade reforms on the lives of women and men in Jamaica remains a very distressing experience. The first step towards a gender-responsive developmental framework is the facilitation of an adequate information system to guide the development of policies and programs within the agricultural sector. The incorporation of gender-sensitive and participatory planning methods will enhance the content and coverage of information in respect of constraints and opportunities for the intensification and diversification of agricultural enterprises in the region. Inevitably, the adoption of holistic policy design approaches and the establishment of supporting institutional and regulatory mechanisms will provide safeguards against the distortion of reality within the rural and agricultural economy. Within the context of a re-conceptualized and gender-aware agricultural development framework, Caribbean economies will gain the elasticity and resilience necessary for prosperity in an increasingly liberalized and competitive international trading environment.