IICA Canada was an invited guest for an agri-food trade consultation hosted by The Conference Board of Canada and PROCOLOMBIA -Canada in Toronto.
Ottawa, ON. Preliminary information collected and collated by the Conference Board of Canada set the stage for the discussions and feedback during the meeting. The ongoing national stratified agri-food trade survey covered three distinct markets, namely Colombia, Senegal and Vietnam. As IICA’s Delegation in Canada is currently actively implementing a FonTC project which involve small scale producers meeting market requirements, the Technical Cooperation Specialist in attendance was able to share some of the challenges in sourcing from small to medium size farms and food processors in Latin America and Caribbean countries (LAC) to meet current opportunities.
Results of the Conference Board study will provide invaluable information regarding opportunities for Canadian agri-food firms to conduct business with, or source and import goods from developing countries; challenges and barriers to sourcing products from these countries; and potential initiatives to overcome these barriers.
The consultation was part of a larger research project, commissioned by Global Affairs Canada.
