With the issue of food security very much on the front burner for CARIFORUM states, the European Union (EU) is stepping in to assist the region in this regard.
A statement from the EU Global Gateway and CARIFORUM (CARICOM plus the Dominican Republic) yesterday announced that the European body is providing some €19 million to enhance the resilience and sustainability of food systems in the Caribbean, promoting food and nutrition security, particularly for groups in vulnerable situations. It explained that this is part of a larger EU €600 million effort to step up support to the most vulnerable African, Caribbean and Pacific countries hit by the global food crisis.
The European assistance package is being administered by the EU-CARIFORUM Food Security Programme which was launched yesterday in Guyana. The ceremony was attended by Secretary General of CARICOM/CARIFORUM, Dr Carla Barnett, and Guyana’s Minister of Agriculture, Zulfikar Mustapha, who was representing President Irfaan Ali, lead head for Agriculture, Agricultural Diversification and Food Security in the CARICOM Quasi Cabinet.
According to the statement, under this Food Security programme, the EU and CARIFORUM will collaborate with their respective national partners to target some of the most pressing bottlenecks in a bid to achieve a sustainable solution to food and nutrition security in the Caribbean region.
This includes sustainable and climate-smart production processes of locally produced food, efficient and reliable regional distribution mechanisms, healthy consumption patterns, and resilient social protection structures. The programme will also advance the CARICOM joint commitment to reduce the Caribbean’s food import bill by 25% by 2025 and the Food and Agriculture Systems Transformation (FAST) Strategy of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS).
To assist the objectives of its programme, the EU is collaborating with the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB), the International Trade Centre (ITC), the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), and the Intern-ational and Ibero-American Foundation for Administration and Public Policies (FIIAPP), in coordination with CARIFORUM, CARICOM and the CARICOM Ministerial Task Force on Food Produc-tion and Food Security.
The release explained the functions of these various agencies. The ITC component will serve to strengthen selected value chains and market linkages, while IICA will focus on enhancing sanitary and phytosanitary systems. In parallel, FIIAPP will work with Caribbean countries on the issues of nutrition and healthy diets and supporting inclusive social protection systems. The CDB component will focus on attracting investment, supporting agri-tech solutions and enhancing distribution channels, in particular through intra-regional maritime transport.
Further, the programme is also in line with the new EU Global Gateway strategy to boost smart, clean and secure links in digital, energy and transport sectors, and to strengthen health, education and research systems across the world.
European Commission Deputy Director-General for International Partnerships, Myriam Ferran, emphasised the EU’s commitment towards achieving more sustainable and resilient food systems in the Caribbean. “In this dire context of global food crisis, I want to stress the European Union’s commitment to supporting regional efforts towards more sustainable and resilient food systems in the Caribbean. The new EU programme that we are launching here today has consulted with national, regional and international partners and will promote food and nutrition security, particularly for groups in vulnerable situations. It will have a strong focus on facilitating investment as a key driver of growth and development of the agricultural and fishery sector.”
Meanwhile, CARICOM Secretary-General, Barnett, asserted that food and nutrition security is now one of the highest priorities for CARICOM. “The Programme is expected to contribute to several critical outputs, including supporting research and investments in food production solutions, strengthening selected agriculture and fisheries value-chains at local and regional levels, and improving food processing capabilities to increase regional food distribution.”
Implementation of the project will start in December 2023 and will last for four years, the release added.
