Browse Data and Analysis

Caribbean Basin > Aruba + Barbados + Cayman Islands + Curacao + Dominca + Grenada + Guyana + Saint Kitts and Nevis + Saint Vincent and the Grenadines + Saint Lucia + Trinidad and Tobago

Chickpeas, also known as garbanzo beans, are a legume full of protein, fiber, complex carbohydrates, and are relatively low in calories. Chickpeas are used in many Indian and Mediterranean dishes. Australia, India, and Canada are the top three chickpea exporters accounting for more than 40 percent of the world’s exports in 2022. Pakistan is the largest importer, followed by the European Union, Bangladesh, and Turkey.

Since December 2022, rainfall across most of Iraq has been positive, expected to result in favorable yields and increased production for winter crops wheat and barley, with rice expected to rebound this summer for marketing year (MY) 2023/24.

With international funding to develop and implement biosafety regulatory systems drying up in 2019, Caribbean biosafety regulatory efforts remain in idle mode. The region is seeking further funding from the United Nations Environmental Program/Global...

On May 17, the Government of Iraq (GOI) announced higher purchase prices for locally-produced wheat in an effort to incentivize farmers to market their crop to the Ministry of Trade. On June 8, the GOI also passed a food security bill that allows the government to use public funds to meet urgent food needs, including issuing tenders to import wheat.

Continued drought and water shortages is affecting economic activities in Iraq, especially grain production in 2022. The Iraqi Ministry of Agriculture cut agricultural cropping in irrigated areas to 50 percent less than the previous year due to shortages in surface water.

The 2021 U.S. Agricultural Export Yearbook provides a statistical summary of U.S. agricultural commodity exports to the world.

Biosafety regulatory efforts in the Caribbean remain stalled, and it is yet to be seen whether countries can regain the will and secure the international financing required to fully implement their National Biosafety Frameworks in a harmonized manner.

Eager to put the COVID-19 pandemic behind it, the Caribbean is doing all it can to attract visitors and kick-start its tourism sector in 2021.

Global lentil exports in 2020 jumped from $1 billion to $2.6 billion compared to the year before. Canada and Australia led the surge, accounting for more than three-fourths of the exports. Lentil exports peaked at $2.7 billion in 2015 but drifted lower through 2019, primarily due to reduced shipments from Canada to India and Turkey and from the United States to Canada and India.

Caribbean imports of consumer-oriented products shrunk from $2.3 billion in 2019 to $2.1 billion in 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, yet Caribbean retail grocery sales grew by an estimated 6 percent during the same period.

The Iraqi Ministry of Agriculture recently released its 2021 plans for total planted area of summer crops – corn and rice – following approval by the Ministry of Water Resources.