Even as Guyana continues to be the most looked-to country in the region in the matter of shoring up the Caribbean’s food security bona fides, the country is making preparations to host the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) 38th regional conference for Latin America and the Carib-bean. A Department of Public Information media release, earlier this week stated that the March 18-21 forum “the issue of Caribbean food security is certain to arise” and that it “will allow the region to discuss challenges and top priorities in food and agriculture, aimed at fostering regional coherence in global policies.” What it declined to state, however, is whether or not the forum may be preceded by the long-awaited update on the progress being made on the completion of the promised Food Security Terminal.
The release also alluded to discussions which it says will focus on “financing to end hunger, technological innovations to reduce post-harvest loss of food waste, and the adaptation and mitigation of the effects of climate change for a sustainable agriculture system and food security.” It also stated that the forum will address “access to financing mechanisms to facilitate national programmes, promote technological transfers and capacity building, and end food hunger and malnutrition among children in the region.” At the preceding February 7th media launch at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre on Wednes-day, Minister of Agriculture, Zulfikar Mustapha reportedly asserted that that the FAO forum will also be seeking to formulate policies that will aid the hemisphere to, hopefully, shore up their vulnerable food systems.
The release states that “the FAO continues to be a key partner in the region, providing significant technical assistance for the execution of numerous projects across the agriculture sectors that contribute to the region’s food security agenda.” It alludes to the organization’s “drive to achieve better production, nutrition, and environment aligns with CARICOM’s 25 by 2025 objective, of ‘promoting regional food security’ through targeted action, to reduce the region’s food import bill by 25 per cent.” The importance of the FAO forum in the context of addressing food security issues is reflected in the fact that President Irfaan Ali has “met with the regional Director of the FAO” at which forum it was agreed that there should be a conversation about “outcomes.”
Assistant Director General and Regional Representative of FAO, Mario Lubetkin reportedly asserted that the Georgetown FAO forum will be seeking to address climate change, trade, and sustainable production to achieve a common goal. “I have seen that one of the big challenges of the conference is to combine in a new way, the concept of local, regional and global… There are no other ways if we want to resolve the problems,” Lubetkin is quoted in the DPI release as saying.
