In the wake of the recent focus on Caribbean food sufficiency and food security, spearheaded by Guyana and Barbados, agricultural sustainability was reportedly one of the issues at the forefront of recent discussions at the level of the Caribbean Community (Caricom).
It will be recalled that back in May, Guyana hosted its Agri Investment Forum and Expo under the theme ‘Investing in Vision 25 by 2025’ and that this event was followed by the subsequent Barbados Agro Fest. The two events served to trigger a measure of regional chatter about food security and to cause some countries, once again, to put heads together in an effort to take a tilt at what now appears to be a rising region-wide concern.
Trinidad and Tobago, too, got into the act, hosting its own Agri Investment Forum from August 19-21, which reportedly focused on, among other things, raising awareness of the importance of food security and having a resilient and sustainable agriculture system.
It should be stated that while each of these events appeared to attract some measure of attention, some of the chatter surrounding them focused on the sloth in the region, particularly at the level of Caricom. Previous initiatives designed to execute sentiments expressed by Heads of Government on the importance of urgently shoring up the food security credentials of the Caribbean were not followed through.
It would appear that, gradually, arising (at least partially) out of criticism of what is perceived as indifference to the food security clamour, the regional integration body may finally be seeking, with an enhanced sense of urgency, to wrap its mind around the issue.
While insufficient regional media attention may have been paid to the August 19-21 forum in Trinidad and Tobago under the theme “Transforming Agriculture through Innovation and Investment”, it reportedly focused on initiatives that include encouraging discussions between key stakeholders in the agriculture sector, both locally and regionally; creating investment opportunities for local or regional producers/entities across the agriculture value chain; improving agriculture production, productivity and value chains in the agriculture sector through shared knowledge and experience; encouraging the exchange of technology and/or promoting investment in innovative technologies to achieve increased availability of food locally and regionally; and reducing dependency on imported food items by promoting local or regional alternatives.
The challenge for the region is that of fashioning the issues covered in the agenda of the meeting in Trinidad and Tobago into an programme to be executed at the level of the community, which will allow for region-wide inputs. Some of the key items that reportedly arose at this forum were the current grave global situation of the shortages and high prices of imported food fertilisers and other agricultural inputs, and the severe problems affecting transportation and logistics. These issues continue to impact the region deeply through a knock-on effect on food prices. What the Port-of-Spain deliberations recognised (and this has been no secret for some time) is that the region possesses the capacity to realise a high level of food security as long as the requisite action is taken to implement what we already know are the necessary measures.
Now that the latest season of regional discourse on food security appears to have tailed off, it would seem that issues like raising awareness of the importance of food security and having a resilient and sustainable agriculture system, building stronger relationships among the critical stakeholders in the agricultural and agro-processing sector and affording would-be regional investors investment opportunities across the width of the agriculture value chain are among the important priorities.
To move beyond the high-profile food security agenda that has unfolded over the past few months, which came across mostly as a public awareness exercise preparatory to the actualisation of a clearly determined direction, there are other key considerations. Among them are the importance of creating a resilient and sustainable agriculture system, encouraging discussions between key stakeholders in the sector, creating investment opportunities for local or regional producers/entities across the agriculture value chain and improving the proficiency of agriculture through shared knowledge and experience. Also important are encouraging the exchange of technology and promoting investment in innovative technologies to achieve increased availability of food locally and regionally, and reducing dependency on imported food items by promoting local or regional alternatives.
