Guyana’s President, Irfaan Ali has called for the removal of trade barriers which he says only serve to restrict regional agricultural trade and curtail food exports and the attainment of regional food security.
According to an Office of the President release on Tuesday, Ali made these remarks as part of his virtual keynote address at the 16th Caribbean Week of Agriculture (CWA) 2021 where he spoke as the lead Head of Government with responsibility for agriculture in the CARICOM Quasi Cabinet.
“We cannot seriously speak of significantly denting the enormous and unsustainable regional food import bill yet, unwittingly or otherwise erect, and keep in place non-tariff barriers (NTBs), which impede regional trade in agriculture produce and products.” The president asserted that his Government would be “bullish” in pressing to dismantle the barriers while pointing out that the promotion of regional initiatives aimed at eliminating non-tariff barriers to trade is among the critical areas being addressed by the Special Ministerial Taskforce. “I know that there are vested interests who wish to retain these barriers, but the choice facing us is clear.”
He also challenged CWA 2021 to address two fundamental questions. Why is the transformation of regional food systems necessary and how best can the Caribbean pursue this transformation process?
“The Caribbean has the resources to ensure greater regional food security. It remains a travesty that our Region, blessed with arable lands, abundant freshwater supplies and skilled agricultural workers, imports more than US$5B annually in food. We have the means to slash our regional food import bill, produce more of the food we consume and, in the process, generate sustainable livelihoods through agriculture,” Ali declared.
The President underscored that Guyana, being resource-rich in land and freshwater, is desirous of leading the charge by making available appropriate lands as part of the process of promoting cross-border investments in agriculture.
“Guyana is currently embarking on a process of consolidating unused and under-utilised lands with the aim of making suitable lands more readily available for supporting large-scale agriculture investments.”
He also warned the Caribbean must also become more food secure since climate change can imperil global food supply, subjecting the Region to external-induced shocks.
Economic Opportunity
In addition to ensuring that the region is food secure, the president also believes that transforming the sector can open economic opportunities, including food exportation.
“By 2040, it is estimated that there will be an additional 1.4 billion mouths to feed. Food will be in high demand. This represents both a challenge for us to feed ourselves and also an economic opportunity to help feed the world. We must reform our food systems in order to respond to these challenges and seize the opportunities that will arise from the demand for more food.”
He also said that the transformation of regional food systems must involve the regional private sector and informed that the Special Ministerial Taskforce on Food Production and Food Security, headed by Guyana’s Minister of Agriculture, Zulfikar Mustapha, and the CARICOM Private Sector Organisation (CPSO) have been actively working together.
Ali noted that the groups have since contributed significantly to identifying specific areas for regional policy support in targeting investments and intra-regional trade, particularly in poultry, niche vegetables and commodities such as corn, soy, rice, coco-nut, beef and meat of ruminants.
In addition, the Special Ministerial Taskforce has also initiated dialogue with regional and strategic entities regarding the de-risking of the regional agricultural sector. It has also identified an innovative Agricultural Insurance Product that is being pioneered by a regional company, among other related initiatives.
“I have been advised that a sub-committee is currently being established specifically to address the possibilities for establishing similar agricultural insurance on a regional scale. We are moving forward with the agenda to transform regional food systems.”
The President pointed out that there is now an even stronger need for appropriately tailored and accessible risk transfer financial services given agriculture’s extreme reliance on favourable climatic conditions. He noted that in this regard, the absence of adequate insurance has severely constrained investment in the sector while iterating the need to do away with trade barriers. “A central focus of reforming Carib-bean food systems should entail the rapid dismantling of barriers, which inhibit intra-regional trade in agricultural produce and products, increasing food production, increasing investments, promoting climate-resilient agriculture and de-risking the sector.”
SDGs and climate resilience
President Ali also noted that food security is central to attaining many of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and if the Region is to attain the SDGs, then it must transform its food systems to ensure greater food security.
He added that this transformation must also result in more climate-resilient agriculture since the Region is particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change and natural hazards. These include overtopping sea and river defences, salt-water intrusion into agricultural lands, flooding, drought and the threats posed by hurricanes and other natural disasters.
“It is therefore imperative that attention is given to building climate resilience in order to transform the Region’s agri-food system”, he said.
CWA2021 was planned in collaboration with the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture, the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations and the Carib-bean Research and Development Institute, the release added.
