It has been quite some time since Caribbean Community (Caricom) has been pondering the issue of regional food security. Regional heads, ministers of agriculture and technocrats have been doing so with the usual dilatoriness that has long ago led to the conclusion that the respective governments are not as serious as they ought to be on this issue. Former president Jagdeo’s regional food security advocacy had actually become a talking point for regional heads though at the end of the day, some of the commitments that were made in the matter of a regional initiative to kick start a serious regional food security programme never saw the light of day.
Part of the understanding was that each Caricom country would pour more resources into their respective agricultural programmes. Then there was talk about major bilateral agricultural projects involving Guyana – on account of its large tracts of fertile land – and Trinidad and Tobago. There was talk too about attracting extra-regional investment and working to clear the hurdle of crop insurance, a concern which potential investors had raised.
It appeared very much, however, as though once the deliberations were over, the respective member states assumed a more-or-less ‘as you were’ posture, save and except a few isolated initiatives to pursue import substitution programmes in specific areas. Barbados, for example, appears to have placed the shoring-up of its agricultural sector on its front burner and Jamaica has been sending signals that it wants to accelerate its traditional small, family-based agricultural projects.
None of these initiatives have come even remotely close to embracing the regional food security initiative that had been trumpeted. None, that is, until Trinidad and Tobago announced in its budget presentation on Monday that it had decided to reactivate what it says was a long-standing offer by the Government of Guyana to make land available for large-scale agricultural projects designed to significantly increase regional food production.
Trinidad and Tobago – given its oil resources – had always been considered to be likely to be least interested in a regional food plan. In fact, Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados and Jamaica among other Caricom countries have been responsible for the region’s growing food import bill, partially on account of the need to meet the needs of the tourist industry and partially on account of the acquired foreign tastes of the local population. The fact that Trinidad and Tobago has decided – rather suddenly, one might add – to revive its interest in the Guyana land offer suggests that the twin-island republic has gotten religion on the issue of food security and is prepared to forge ahead with the idea.
Perhaps significantly, the move by Port of Spain comes at a time when both the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO and the World Food Programme (WFP) have begun to send out more dire warnings about the global food situation. Whether or not the initiative will serve to rekindle the regional enthusiasm on the food security issue that appeared to exist a few years ago is unclear.
As far as regional food security is concerned both Trinidad and Tobago and Guyana – for different reasons – are key players and both individually and together they ought to be able to use their influence to rekindle enthusiasm for an accelerated regional agricultural programme.
Here there are opportunities for a regional private sector – including commercial banks – which, in the past, has tended to demonstrate an indifference to investing in the agricultural sector. One assumes that if, in Guyana for example, investments in agriculture from entrepreneurs in Trinidad and Tobago help to create more stable, well-run agricultural enterprises, that ought to help create the conditions that would entice insurance companies into offering crop insurance. More than that stable agricultural projects ought to attract more investment to the sector.
Cynical as we have become about regional initiatives in agriculture and other sectors that have come to nought, one is loathe to begin to exude excessive enthusiasm over the recent announcement in Port-of-Spain. Still, hope springs eternal and perhaps, this time, the region may come to see the light on the issue of food security.
