Overview
As part of the EU’s global response to the food crisis, in July 2022, the European Union mobilised EUR 600 million to strengthen food security and develop sustainable and resilient food systems across ACP countries, with EUR 36.5 million allocated exclusively for the Caribbean. The EU-Caribbean Regional Food Security Programme, running from 2023 to 2027, aims to enhance food system resilience, focusing on improving the livelihoods and food security of vulnerable populations. The programme will invest EUR 19 million, implemented through key regional partners: the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB), International Trade Centre, Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture, and EU member state agencies (FIIAPP and CPVA).
The programme's general objective is to enhance the sustainability and resilience of food systems in the Caribbean, promoting food and nutrition security, particularly for vulnerable groups. Specific goals include improving food production systems with a focus on gender sensitivity, enhancing food processing and distribution, expanding social protection systems for agricultural actors, and ensuring equitable access to nutritious diets across the region.
The Investment Project, led by the CDB, will support agri-MSMEs and producers by providing access to finance, fostering innovation, and improving distribution systems to enhance competitiveness and resilience.
Call for Proposals
The Call for Proposals #3 offers funding to strengthen food security, sustainable agriculture, and fisheries development in the Caribbean. This initiative supports projects that enhance food and nutrition security, improve resilience to climate change, and modernise agri-food systems across CARIFORUM countries. With a strong focus on innovation and inclusivity, the programme targets farmers, fishers, agri-businesses, and institutions working across the regional value chain.
Funding is available for high-impact projects under two key areas:
- institutional capacity building for agri-finance institutions and farmer organisations, and
- investment in agri-tech solutions to boost productivity and efficiency.
Priority is given to initiatives that strengthen governance, expand access to finance, adopt precision agriculture technologies, improve processing and value addition, reduce production costs, and deploy climate-smart agriculture and resilient infrastructure. Grants of up to €600,000 for national projects and €1.3 million for regional projects are available, supporting scalable solutions that increase competitiveness and sustainability.
Eligible applicants include organisations operating in the agriculture and fisheries sectors in CARIFORUM member states, with proposals evaluated on relevance, feasibility, sustainability, and cost-effectiveness. Applications must include a full project proposal, budget, and supporting documents, and demonstrate up to 30% counterpart financing.
Proposals must be submitted electronically via email to eu-cdb-fsp@caribank.org.
The deadline for submission is June 30, 2026.
Access the full Call for Proposals document below for detailed guidelines, eligibility criteria, and submission requirements.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
The main objective is to improve the resilience and sustainability of food systems in the Caribbean, especially for vulnerable communities. This includes promoting food and nutrition security, boosting the competitiveness of agri-MSMEs, and enhancing access to finance, innovation, and technology in the agriculture and fisheries sectors.
The call is open to Agri-finance institutions, farmers and farmer cooperatives, agri-entrepreneurs, Agro-processors, Ministries (Agriculture/Fisheries)
- Strengthening the Institutional Capacity of Agri-finance Institutions and Farmer Organisations,
- Advanced Production and Processing Agri-tech Solutions,
- Resource Optimisation and Cost-Reduction Technologies and
- Climate Adaptive Technologies and Resilient Infrastructure
Resources will be allocated on a competitive basis and based on the assessed value of the intervention. Individual country projects may benefit from a grant up to €600,000 with a maximum of regional projects - covering more than two countries - may benefit from grant resources up to €1.3 million.
The deadline for submissions for the third call is June 30th, 2026.
Projects to be financed under this window are expected to provide counterpart financing of up to 30%.
Proposals will be assessed based on the following criteria:
- Relevance: The project's alignment with national and regional priorities and the program’s objectives.
- Project Design: The quality of the project's design and problem analysis.
- Effectiveness: Feasibility of the proposed work plan.
- Feasibility and Risk Mitigation: The project's overall feasibility, including how risks will be managed.
- Sustainability: The potential for long-term benefits to continue after the project concludes.
- Cost-Effectiveness: The project's ability to meet market demands efficiently.
For further details, applicants are encouraged to review the full evaluation criteria and application guidelines.
Contact
Malcolm Wallace
PARTNER
