With the United Nations-designated International Year of Fruits & Vegetables (IYFV) now in its second month, Guyana, widely regarded as the regional leader in the agricultural sector, is yet to make public its official programme of activities to mark the country’s participation in what is being celebrated as a global event.
On December 15 last year, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Director-General Qu Dongyu launched IYFV with an appeal to countries to seek to improve healthy and sustainable food production through innovation and technology and to reduce food loss and waste. Qu, who reportedly described the IYFV initiative as “a unique opportunity to raise global awareness.” noted that the COVID-19 pandemic had challenged people to find new ways of fighting hunger and malnutrition, and said IYFV would highlight the role of digital technologies in improving nutrition and market opportunities.
Given its perceived position as a leading player in the agriculture sector in the Caribbean, Guyana will likely be expected to play a lead role in the planning and execution of specific initiatives designed not just to highlight the role of fruit and vegetables as part of the country’s broader agricultural profile, but also to roll out projects across the country in fruit and vegetable production in order to strengthen the local and regional food security credentials as well as to boost intra-regional exports. Given the strong link between fruit and vegetable cultivation and manufacturing, it is also expected that the IYFV programme will have a strong agro-processing element linked to it.
Part of the likely problem with the ministry’s rolling out of a specific programme to mark IYFV up to this time may be the likely concern over the persistence of the COVID-19 pandemic and the role that this might play in limiting or preventing altogether, outdoor events, including Farmers’ Markets and fruit displays that might otherwise be high on a local programme of IYFV activities.
Last week, subsequent to an inquiry by this newspaper, the Agriculture Ministry issued a media release in which it outlined a broad focus, rather than a specific programme of activities, likely to underpin the marking of IYFV locally. In the release the Ministry said that part of its thrust during IYFV will be to “continue to work assiduously with its development partners to ensure that Guyanese have continuous access to healthy and nutritious fruits and vegetables.”
According to the release, “One of the main objectives of this year, is the implementation of policies and programmes that support import substitution. This includes extensive crop research and development focused on the domestic production of spices, onions, potatoes, and carrots.” Additionally, the Ministry says that through the National Agricultural Research and Extension Institute (NAREI), it will be “focusing on the cultivation of more climate resilient varieties of existing crops, such as, sweet potato, cassava, pineapple, plantain, coconut, peanuts and cashew nuts.” This, it said, will be done “through crop research, seed distribution and technology transfer,” adding that “in an effort to reduce the cost of inputs while promoting climate smart agriculture, NAREI will be promoting the establishment of shade houses through the provision of shade house materials at an affordable cost to farmers.”
The Agriculture Ministry says, meanwhile, that IYFV will see more emphasis placed on “ensuring that the fruits and vegetables produced by our farmers are of higher quality and more natural (low pesticide residue).” This, it says, will include “the implementation of a more robust extension programme to ensure that our farmers understand the importance of and implement safer production and post-harvest management practices.”
Part of the global objective of IYFV, the UN says, is to raise global awareness of the nutritional and health benefits of consuming more fruits and vegetables as part of a diversified, balanced and healthy diet and lifestyle as well as to direct policy attention to reducing loss and waste of these perishable produce. In keeping with this focus the Ministry of Agriculture says that it remains cognizant of the fruit and vegetables sector, not only as a catalyst for economic growth but also as a key part of ensuring that Guyana has a healthy population.
