de info@agritrade.cta.int (Smedley, Clare ) Addressing the 3rd Annual Caribbean Fine Cocoa Conference in June 2012, Jamaican Minister of Agriculture Roger Clarke called for an expansion of cocoa production and the initiation of ‘value-added activity in order to take advantage of the premium price paid for the commodity on the world market’. To date, little value addition takes place in the Caribbean’s eight countries that produce fine cocoa. Mr Clarke maintained that a structural reorganisation of the sector was required, with the government of Jamaica embarking on ‘a programme of divestment of its commercial interest in the sector’. This is seen as essential, in view of the decline in the sector in the last decade. This needs to be seen in the context of ministerial concerns that emerged in April over the financial consequences for cocoa farmers of the operation of the Jamaican Cocoa Industry Board. The Minister of Agriculture argued that ‘growth of the industry will have to be driven by expanded production through strategic alliances with those from the North to whom we sell our cocoa to undertake the value added in our territories.’ The Minister of Trade and Industry of Trinidad and Tobago, Vasant Bharath, took a more upbeat view, arguing that ‘after many years of declining production levels, the cocoa industry is undergoing a renaissance.’ Mr Bharath endorsed the view of Mr Clarke on the need to move up the value chain, observing that ‘cocoa is a multi-million industry but primary cocoa captures only a very small portion of the total value…The largest returns from this industry come from the value-added products such as chocolate and refined cocoa rather than cocoa beans, the primary commodity. It is therefore imperative that we promote greater investments in the value chain which is critical to the viability of the region’s cocoa industry.’