What is being touted as yet another an ambitious plan to reduce regional food imports by 25% over the next three years has reportedly secured the backing of a number of key international organisations, including the World Food Programme (WFP) though whether or not the Plan will secure the requisite corresponding endorsement from the people of the respective Caribbean territories remains to be seen.
If observers are inclined to endorse the recent remarks attributed to the FAO’s Sub Regional Coordinator Dr Renata Clarke that the region’s inward-looking posture with regard to feeding its people is not only sustainable but critical in the face of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, then farmers from across the region are bound to point to the numerous regional food security ‘false starts’ characterised by meetings at the level of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), numerous technical studies, and countless high-sounding undertakings, by governments on the issue of Caribbean food security, all of which have fallen by the wayside.