Tomatoes between 7 and 10 euros per kilo, soursops at 6 euros per kilo, avocados at 2 euros per piece in high season… In Guadeloupe, even local production is expensive. “It’s related to the cost of living here. Fertilizers and inputs are very expensive. And we are suffering the full weight of climate change, we are losing crops.”explains Irma Jean-Louis, a fruit and vegetable seller at the Gourdeliane market in Baie Mahaut, one of the largest markets in the archipelago. Their colorful stall features cucumbers, dragon fruit, beets, turnips, guavas, lettuce, okra and even some ears of corn. “Not everything arises from exploitation”he says, showing oranges, which are imported.
When it comes to food, Guadeloupe imports almost everything. And this is not improving, despite the objectives set by the government. The agricultural world is aging, the number of agricultural holdings is decreasing. In 2020, the department raised 2% to 5% fewer cattle than in 2010. The same goes for pigs, sheep and poultry. It also cultivated less: in the same period, 913 large agricultural farms (sugar cane, banana) and 490 mixed crop farms disappeared, according to figures from local agricultural statistics. It is above all the small farms, the most numerous, that are disappearing. However, these are the most dedicated to diversification. “Agricultural production intended to supply local markets registered a decrease of between 3,000 and 4,000 tons per year during the period 2009-2018”specified the Overseas Agricultural Economy Development Office, in 2019.
Making food sovereignty an anti-cost of living treatment remains a challenge, despite the port tax, this tax on imported products that aims to protect local production. “Guadalupe’s agriculture is essentially oriented towards the production of export crops (dessert banana, sugar cane, melon, pineapple, cut flowers)”stated the National Agricultural Research Institute in a study, published in early 2022, on food self-sufficiency in the overseas territories by 2030.
new generation
The research organization has an experimental microfarm to study the conditions of access to food sovereignty: a small farm model (2 hectares maximum), highly diversified in the style of the Creole garden, cultivated in permaculture, which allows, according to the researchers ensure production. profitability for the farmer and the purchasing power of the consumer. But also a real resilience in the face of major climatic events that sometimes destroy local production.
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