While small populations and farming initiatives of various kinds are commonplace in the Caribbean, there is still reason to believe that COVID-19 can breach the region’s less-than-impregnable food security defences if the pandemic persists for much longer.
In April this year, two regional organisations, the Healthy Caribbean Coalition (HCC) and the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) publicly expressed concern over what they see as “challenges to regional food security and accessing safe and nutritious food during, and beyond, the COVID-19 pandemic.”
The contention of the two regional organisations is that “the COVID-19 pandemic threatens to create a food- security gap that could “undermine the gains made in recent years in the prevention and control of diet-related non-communicable diseases (NCDs), as well as the maintenance of good health among people living with NCDs.” It is an argument that resonates with nutritionists in many parts of the region.