As the hype and hoopla which, up to some months ago, had come to be associated with a food security pact involving Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries begins, seemingly, to subside, one member country, St. Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG), has turned to Vene-zuela for support in pursuit of shoring up its food security bona fides. Last week it was disclosed that St. Vincent and the Grenadines had signed on to an agreement with Venezuela that would allow farmers from SVG access to land for farming pursuits in that country. Under the agreement, farmers from St. Vincent and the Grenadines will be afforded access to 25,000 acres of land in Venezuela for food production as part of the Agro-Alba agreement. An agreement was reportedly inked to that effect on Wednesday November 6th.
At the conclusion of the agreement, the Government of St. Vincent and the Grenadines issued a media release in which it reportedly said that the agreement with Venezuela seeks to strengthen agricultural production for SVG and immediate neighbouring countries. The signing of the agreement between SVG and Venezuela raises questions regarding the existing commitment of CARICOM member countries to a regional food security plan launched with much aplomb back in 2022 but which appears to have stalled over several months. Guyana and Barbados had been tagged as the prime movers behind the regional plan which had envisaged a mechanism for the production and delivery of food to countries across the region in response to concerns expressed by the Food and Agricultural Organization and other high profile entities over what was felt to be the Caribbean’s declining food security bona fides.
While the initiative had kicked off with much aplomb and with a seeming keenness to ensure a measure of food security for the weaker countries of the region in the instance of a crisis, the outcomes, up to this time, have fallen short of expectations. The recent signing on to the Agro-Alba Agreement by St. Vincent and the Grenadines will likely be regarded by the country’s political administration as possessing better immediate prospects for helping to provide for the country’s food security needs than the CARICOM regional food security plan which appears to be in limbo at this time. Indeed, the SVG’s decision to embrace Venezuela’s Agro-Alba option was likely been influenced in some measure by the fact that the region now appears to have gone completely quiet on its once aggressively touted regional food security plan..
