Land mass limitations in a majority of Caribbean Com-munity (Caricom) countries make Guyana and Suriname crucial to any collective regional initiative to respond to the challenge of food security, according to Executive Director of the Caribbean Agricultural Research and Development institute Dr Arlington Chesney.
The Guyanese-born agricultural specialist made the comment as part of a positive response to the announcement that the Government of Trinidad and Tobago had written to Guyanese President Donald Ramotar renewing its interest in the acquisition of land in Guyana for the pursuit of private sector-driven large scale agricultural projects.
Noting that the principle of such an arrangement was “a very good one,” Dr Chesney, a long-time advocate of a collective Caricom effort towards the realization of regional food security is quoted in the media in Port-of-Spain as saying that while the region has set itself a target of 25 per cent food and nutrition security by 2015, the realization of that target was not possible through the efforts of individual countries. At the July meeting of Caricom Heads in St Lucia President Donald Ramotar had bemoaned the fact that up until then the region appeared to be largely ignoring the Jagdeo Initiative on regional food security, which was manifested in the fact that the region’s food importation bill had shown no downward trend from the U$3 billion mark reached two years ago.
The arrangement under which private Trinidadian investors will access land for large-scale farming in Guyana reportedly involves up to 5,000 acres, which will be issued in tranches and the developer will be responsible for investing in infrastructure. Guyana, Belize and St Kitts and Nevis are believed to be the only countries in Caricom that are capable of realising 100 per cent food security.
