Brathwaite outlines proposed food plan for Barbados

Independent Senator Dr Chelston Brathwaite has issued a plea to the Mia Mottley administration to develop and implement an “integrated food security plan” for Barbados.

A part of his proposed plan, is that all available arable land be put into agriculture, a review of the island’s land use policy and for agriculture and food security to become a mandatory subject in schools.

His call came against the backdrop of the continued spread of the COVID-19 virus and the ongoing Russia invasion of Ukraine, which he said has led to an unstable global economic situation that has highlighted the vulnerability of Barbados and other small island developing states in the area of food and energy security.

Brathwaite, a member of the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) Food Security Advisory Council, raised an alarm over the rising shortage in some food and commodity supplies and the rising cost of living, which he warned could get worse in weeks and months ahead.

“Be it resolved therefore, that in the light of the global food crisis, that Barbados develops an integrated food security plan, which will reposition the agricultural sector, recognise farmers as important contributors to economic develop, and decree that all vacant arable land be used to produce food,” said Brathwaite.

“Be it further resolved that the integrated food security plan be informed by the agricultural development vision, which was developed in 2012, which seeks to develop a food security focus for our agriculture in Barbados,” he said.

Brathwaite was giving notice of a resolution on food security in light of current global affairs and possible implications for Barbados, as a session of the Upper House convened on Wednesday.

Warning of the need for urgent action, he pointed to the growing concern over non-communicable diseases (NCDs), which he said were due mainly to dependency on highly-processed foods.

Brathwaite, who served as Director General of IICA between 2002 and 2010, proposed a change in the consumption patterns of residents from a focus on imported foods to focus on greater consumption of local foods.

This, he said, could be done through the promotion of nutrition education and the implementation of appropriate policies.

He said the integrated food security plan would include strengthening the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Nutritional Security and allocating more resources to the sector especially for investment in new technologies and market information systems.

He further called for a focus on research and development efforts and agricultural technologies for production and processing of locally produced food.

“Review our policies on the importation of food items, and promote incentives to produce food locally and regionally, review our land-use policies, strengthen agricultural extension services, make agriculture and food security a compulsory subject on the curriculum of our schools, strengthen the fisheries sub-sector and promote climate-smart agriculture by the incorporation of climate-smart technologies in production,” he said.

“Promote private/public sector partnerships in food production and food processing and the development of an agricultural insurance system to support this initiative,” he added.

He said historically Barbados and other Caribbean Community (CARICOM) nations have neglected the agriculture sector to “narrowly” focus primarily on tourism, resulting in massive dependency on imports, which has resulted in a food import bill of more than US$4 million for CARICOM.

Brathwaite also called for the development of a regional agricultural information system that would inform on the availability of food supplies in various CARICOM member states throughout the year. This, he said, should be coupled with the creation of a more enabling environment to move food from countries with excess to those with a deficit.

He also proposed that the region develop a system of payment for regional food trade in local currencies. (MM)