#BTEditorial – Raising awareness on World Food Day

This is a year of distraction as many important events have passed us with very little fanfare because of the overshadowing effect of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), now gearing up for what could be a global second wave.

But the significance of October 16, 2020 should not be lost on our population. It is World Food Day – a time when we should be reflecting on how we can achieve food security and utilize the linkages we share in this region to ensure we can all benefit from healthy, high quality foods.

This year’s theme of Grow, Nourish, Sustain, Together is thought provoking because it embraces the idea that we cannot do it alone, despite the seeming drift away from multilateralism to inward looking nationalistic policies.

At this very moment, there are thousands of families in the United States of America of all places, who are lining up in cars and at food distribution stations for boxes of food. COVID-19 has been a harsh reminder that citizens across the globe are really living on the edge and the shocks to economies can render sizeable portions of the population on the brink of starvation.

Other developments that have impacted food security rests with the mass production of single crops or food items. With restaurants and hotels closed or operating at minimum capacity, supply chains have been disrupted and mass producers of items such as milk and eggs have been forced to dump them because their production lines also require mass consumption.

Just recently in Barbados, a major food distribution company was forced to dump significant amounts of bacon because the expected market in the hotel and restaurant sector had dried up. That market could not be replaced in the general population because bacon is not viewed as a  regular breakfast item for the average Barbadian household.

In fact, with thousands of our citizens out of work and disposable incomes plummet, people are seeking to secure the basics to ensure that family members are not going to bed hungry.

In a World Bank report on the matter of COVID-19 and food security, the international body noted that the primary risks to food security existed at the country level. And as the coronavirus crisis unfolds, disruptions in domestic food supply chains, other shocks affecting food production, and loss of incomes and remittances were converging to create “strong tensions and food security risks in many countries”.

The bank noted that despite stable global food prices, several countries were still experiencing varying levels of food price inflation at the retail level, reflecting supply disruptions due to COVID-19, currency devaluations and other factors.

The matter of rising food prices have a greater impact in low and middle-income countries since a larger share of income is spent on food in these countries than in high-income countries. We in Barbados know this oh too well.

Trips to the supermarket which used to be fun family events can now be damaging experiences for your mental health when one reaches the cash register.

The United Nations World Food Programme has already warned that an additional 130 million people around the world could face acute food insecurity by the end of 2020, on top of the 135 million people who were already acutely food insecure before the crisis, because of income and remittance losses.

Another important factor to consider this World Food Day is those who are involved in food production are also facing crises. Farmers and other food producers also face large losses on nutritious foods which are likely to be perishable with shorter shelf lives. That’s because consumers are forced to make harmful food choices as consumption patterns shift towards cheaper staples.

Today’s headlines in our local publications demonstrate just how stressed our farmers have become as desperate people as well as opportunistic criminals raid farmers’ livestock and their crops.

It is a most reprehensible situation for our farmers to face at this time. It is time that farmers receive greater support from law enforcement and strong messages from the bench are sent to those convicted of crop and livestock theft.

To add insult to injury, thieves are not only making off with animals and crops, they are stealing farm equipment and other supplies that can set a small businessman back by thousands of dollars.

On this World Food Day 2020, we make a call for a much stronger national effort to not only recognise the important role played by farmers and other food producers but that at the individual household level, we return to the tradition  of producing more of what we eat.