President Irfaan Ali on Friday stressed the importance of CARICOM getting serious about achieving the target of reducing food importation by 25% by the year 2025.
During his address at the 101st Special Meeting of the Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED) via videoconference, the President reminded the leaders about the need to work together.
“It is either we are serious about this or we are not serious about this—we have to decide. This is not an individual country trying to achieve something; this is us as a collective. This is about us being successful together … we cannot advance this if the commitment and the full participation is not there”, he said, according to a release from the Office of the President.
Guyana currently holds lead responsibility for Agriculture, Agricultural Diversification and Food Security in CARICOM and is spearheading the quest of reducing its US$5b food import bill.
In his capacity as the meeting’s Chair, the release said that President Ali also invited discussions on the updates provided by the Special Ministerial Taskforce (MTF) on Food Production and Food Security.
The representatives were invited to identify areas where they can up food production and come up with an actionable plan that also includes a budget, technical resources and investment. They were also tasked with identifying the gaps in each category.
Ali said that he requested the meeting to ensure that concrete decisions and a clear path are established in moving forward.
Guyana’s Minister of Agriculture, Zulfikar Mustapha, who also serves as the Chairman of the Task Force, provided a progress report on the work of the task force to date while participating Agriculture Ministers and other senior officials from across the CARICOM Region provided updates on their country’s efforts to address agriculture-related issues.
The release said that the removal of non-tariff barriers as a means of promoting intra-regional trade and the quick resolution of Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) disputes were also raised by Dr Richard Blair, an Agricultural Economist with the Ministry of Agriculture.
He said that the two main challenges the region faces are SPS measures and qualitative restrictions such as arbitrary licensing requirements.
The Members States also discussed their national action plans, including resource allocations in support of the 25 by 2025 target.
Before the next CARICOM Heads of Government Meeting, the release said that participants are expected to set conditions, including actions required and interventions needed to achieve the target.
Also on the agenda was the poultry industry, which President Ali said holds tremendous opportunities.
“The suggestion is for us to have poultry as a mainstay of what we want to achieve. So, for example, if a country is producing 0%, how can we take them to 25%; if you are producing 25%, how can we take you to 50%. We need to examine if we can do it and how we can do it”, he said.
Other discussions included taxes and duties, incentivising agriculture and climate-smart resilient agriculture.
