With data showing that some 57% percent of the region is affected by hunger or malnutrition, incoming Caricom Chairman President Irfaan Ali said that the regional bloc will add to its current goal of 25% reduction on food importation by 2025 to also focus on eliminating the scourges of hunger and malnutrition by 2030.
“The 25 by 2025 remains a top priority. However, we are of the view that we must now focus on ending hunger and malnutrition by 2030. We are proposing to bring together the human assets that this region nurtured into international fame to bring their goodwill…, as ambassadors, to mobilise international financing and support, so that we can end hunger and malnutrition in this region by 2030. We have the capability,” Ali said.
It will be a year of much work focused heavily on food sustainability, according to Ali. He listed strategic development and implementation plans which have been crafted, stressing that they need the collective commitment of all of the countries’ leaders for them to be achieved.