He underscored the jump in the Caribbean’s food import bill at the opening of a regional workshop aimed at formulating a policy, noting that current figures speak to a growing food insecurity situation in the region. Persaud questioned how serious collective efforts in the Caribbean have been over the years, and he asked of the gathering, “What have we been able to achieve?”
Caricom had reported last week that a wide cross-section of experts from across the region was expected to meet in Guyana for a two-day workshop to start the process of formulating a food and nutrition security policy for the Caribbean. The meeting is being coordinated by the Caricom Secretariat and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
Persaud referred to global initiatives which he said are being implemented to tackle food security, but according to him there are no visible preparations in the region to tap into the resources that are being made available. He emphasized that the global agencies recognize the urgency in the issue, and he questioned how quickly the region can move from formulation to implementation. “Are we fully committed to that task, in terms of quick delivery, and early and effective implementation?” the minister queried.
The mandate in the region is clear, he continued, saying that the leaders have already pointed to what needs to be done. However, he said a scorecard of what has been achieved would reveal some disappointing results. He urged the stakeholders assembled at the workshop to push the agenda forward from the formulation of a regional food and nutrition strategy to implementing it.
Caricom’s Assistant Secretary-General, Trade and Economic Integration Irwin Larocque said the increases in the prices of agricultural commodities and food items in particular, occasioned by rapidly increasing fuel prices in 2008, has had a negative impact on the accessibility and availability of some major commodities with significant implications for food and nutrition security within the region.
He said too that while poverty levels have declined in the region over the years, they remain high in some countries, and in others, there are significant pockets of poverty. Referring to a FAO regional project he said it revealed, “That food security in the region is compromised not by lack of food availability, per se, but by inadequate access to food and dietary patterns that adversely impact on nutritional status”.
Dr Lystra Fletcher-Paul, FAO Representative to Guyana, referred to the workshop as an opportunity to “stop talking” and instead being focused on a much needed policy in the Caribbean. She said the food insecurity situation in the region is reflected in the number of persons malnourished, a figure that currently stands at 7.6 million including persons in Haiti. She pointed out that 1 in every 4 persons in the region is undernourished.
With the exception of Guyana and Belize, she said, all of the Caribbean states are net food importers. But she also stressed that the change in the diets as a result of the economic growth of the countries of the region is triggering an increase in chronic non-communicable diseases. According to Fletcher-Paul, findings suggest there is need for a strong partnership which draws on a wide range of stakeholders. Based on those findings, she said that the workshop is a step in the right direction.
Further, she said the workshop builds on a number of FAO initiatives on food security in the region which includes Phase 1 of the Caribbean Food Security Project promoting Caricom/Cariforum security. She also reflected on her extensive background in agriculture and questioned whether the region has really addressed the problems and constraints of agricultural production. According to her, the current problems were the same 30 years ago. “We just continue to talk about our problems… are we going to do something about it on our watch?” she asked.
Caricom had identified a food and nutrition strategy for the Caribbean as a key component of a wider food security project that is being implemented in the Caribbean and funded by the Government of Italy through the FAO. The secretariat said the current project is the second phase of a more expansive project titled ‘Promoting Caricom/Cariforum Food Security’. The two components of the current phase of the project relate to a Caribbean food and nutrition policy formulation, which will be covered by the workshop, and the value chain, which seeks to develop and or strengthen all the processes from production, processing, and distribution of agricultural commodities and their derivatives, according to the release.
“The need to ensure food security for the Caribbean was even more recently brought into focus by the rise in food and agricultural product prices, the far-reaching implications of the global economic and financial crisis and the structural changes to traditional Caribbean agricultural exports,” the secretariat said. Additionally, the secretariat noted that the outcomes of the workshop will directly feed into a detailed agenda and operational plan to complete the policy formulation process. The process will be used to draft the policy document(s), setting out the food security objectives and priorities and a clear specification of the strategy, policy measures and programmes to achieve the specified goals.
