Assuring that Guyana will commit the necessary resources to ensure that CARICOM’s ’25 by 2025’ food import reduction is achieved, President Irfaan Ali yesterday called on all politicians in the region to join the effort.
“I want to say to you, you not only have our commitment from Guyana; as far as our resources would allow us, we are going to provide the financing that is required to help to support the implementation of this strategy because it is key for all of us,” the president said.
The keynote speaker at yesterday’s launch of the CARICOM Agriculture Investment Forum and Expo expected to held here from May 19 -21, Guyana’s President told an audience at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre that the region needs to return to the agriculture skillsets passed on by its ancestors and it must be embraced by all policymakers and transcend governments or it will fail when governments change.
“Whether our ancestors came as slaves or indentured labourers, they all toiled in fields. That is a foundational principle of what makes us Caribbean people. Over the years, we have divested ourselves from this. We have been forced out in some instances because of climate change and natural disasters. And then we have simply been lackadaisical in some instances,” the President said.
“We did not provide the political leadership and will that is required. And why would I say this? Why would a politician stand here and say this? It is because if we will not take shared responsibility for the failure and successes for where we are, we’ll never be able to make it successfully forward. We have to embrace the failures. We have to embrace the successes. We have to woman up and man up to it, otherwise we would live in an illusion and we couldn’t get nothing done if we live in an illusion,” he added.
Yesterday’s event also saw remarks from CARICOM Secretary General Dr. Carla Barnett; Prime Minister of Belize John Antonio Briceño who is also the current Chairman of the Caribbean Commu-nity; Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley and Prime Minister of St. Vin-cent and the Grenadines Dr Ralph Gonsalves.
Support from the regional and international community, Ali said has been overwhelming.
Making reference to the COVID-19 pandemic and war in Ukraine, the president said that the food import reduction goal was not a dream but an achievable objective.
“25 by 2025 is not a dream. It is not an objective. But is a reality. That has been reinforced …by the urgency of the situation driven by our own actions or own inactions, but also driven by global challenges. The war in Ukraine and its consequences and now beginning to take a toll globally. We don’t know where the end is. But what we do know is that every single global citizen will be affected,” he emphasized.
“That is why this must come to an end as fast as possible. Peace and stability must return and the people must be given an opportunity to return the stability in Ukraine. Think about it, 30% of the wheat production out of the system; the bread and every single by product of wheat [affected]. We have not even commenced a process of recovering from COVID. Right here in Guyana in the region itself we have more than 1,000 containers to be transshipped to Guyana that are stuck at various ports for the past six months. This is a reality that we’re facing but in this reality, lies opportunities. And one of the opportunity for us in this region is to go back because to fundamentally what brought us here.”
The President said that addressing the issue of food security and vision 25 by 2025 is a very complex task because it is “multifaceted in nature” but is nonetheless achievable.
“It is not only about producing the food. It is about financing, it was about technology. It was about partnership. It is about inclusion of women and youth. It is about shared responsibilities. It is about transport and logistics is. It is about niche markets. It is about job creation. It is about research and development. It is bringing all these different areas together in unison that would allow us to achieve this target,” he said.
As he thanked the private sector in the region for its support, Republic Bank Limited was singled out for accolades given its commitment to financing projects under the initiative. “We want to see all other being part of this by doing exactly same. Making it part of your mainstream plans…,” he said.
Announcing that there have been commitments already but more participation is being urged, Ali said that there will be representatives in the expo from 30 international companies, 33 regional companies, 53 local companies, and at least four global institutions.
The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) has also committed to help CARICOM in its food security and resiliency efforts and the President yesterday said that they will also be a part of next month’s expo.
“Not only will they be part of the vision but they will be part of the expo on May 19 – 21,” Ali said.
But he contended that the efforts to bring investors must be matched with ensuring that the red tape and bureaucracy be eliminated or it would frustrate people.
“It is how we package what we want, and that is what the CARICOM Secretariat and the technical team would be doing, working with every single country to package what we want…we can’t package something, and when investors come, they take ten months to facilitate the process of getting off the ground. That is superficial. That is not what we want to achieve,” he said.
Guyana’s Minister of Agriculture Zulfikar Mustapha, who the president thanked for his efforts in leading the initiative, underscored that the food resiliency initiative will be a great push to cross-border investment in the CARICOM member states for investment to stimulate agriculture diversification, increase production, and achieve food security.
Mustapha explained that the primary objective of the Agri-Investment Forum and Expo, is to identify tangible ways to achieve the 25 by 2025 vision of reducing the interaction regional food import bill while at the same time bringing opportunity allowing for full interaction among those in attendance, and ultimately facilitating the matching between bankable projects and prospective investors.
“We are supporting this objective, by creating the environment conducive for attracting targeted investments in bankable projects within the agri-food systems of CARICOM Member States.
“The principal objectives of the event are: Matching bankable agricultural projects with available private and public financing. Also make potential investors and other stakeholders aware of new and emerging opportunities in CARICOM agriculture, including technological and logistical solutions,” he said.
The Forum, according to Mustapha, will be divided into segments to represent the different stages in the food value chain: Primary Production (Farm and Field); Agro Processing (including post-harvesting and marketing); Logistics (Distribution, Shipping, Air Cargo) and Infrastructural Development, including in the areas of Finance and Technology.
Meanwhile, CARICOM’s Secretary General, Dr Barnett stated that Heads of Governments have placed the highest priority on enhancing the region’s food security and nutrition and are grateful to Ali for helping to sound the message that they are serious about the development of the agricultural sector and, by extension, food and nutrition security.
“The time for bold and decisive action is now. This is the clearest opportunity for the CARICOM Region to seize control, and chart its own destiny in food and nutrition security. We must get it right this time if we are to grow our agri-sector and develop our economies. Too often as a Region, we have not been able to take advantage of what is right in front of us and we will do that now,” she said.
The achievement of a 25 percent reduction in the food import bill by 2025 targets the significantly increased production of some key products such as poultry, corn and soya, fish, sheep and goats, and a range of fruit and vegetable products.
Dr Barnett said that the initiatives will also address several cross-cutting issues, such as the removal of various barriers to internal CARICOM trade, mobilizing financing, developing insurance, market facilitation and transportation.
