FAO backs Caribbean’s food imports stance

An ambitious plan to reduce regional food imports by 25 per cent in the next three years has received the support of a key international organisation.

Sub-regional coordinator of the Food and Agriculture Organisation for the Caribbean and Latin America, Dr Renata Clarke, said the region’s inward-looking posture with regard to feeding its people is not only sustainable but critical in the face of the Russian invasion of Ukraine as countries continue to recover from the COVID-19 crisis.

“The first targets that the politicians have set for the agricultural sector is this 25 per cent reduction of imports by 2025. That is around the corner, and many of us believe we definitely can make it,” Dr Clarke told Barbados TODAY.

“If in a matter of years, we can reduce regional imports by 25 per cent, I am extremely optimistic that we can do a lot better. There are countries in the region with huge agricultural potential: Guyana, Belize, Suriname, Jamaica and other countries with less. And the question within this system is how do we optimise agricultural production. How do we coordinate with our CARICOM neighbours to ensure that there is a win-win for everyone? It can happen,” the sub-regional coordinator added.

On Monday, Barbados’ Ministry of Agriculture officials met with counterparts from 32 other Caribbean and Latin American countries in Quito, Ecuador for the 37th FAO Regional Conference. Countries shared their plans and needs to determine agricultural and food security needs that the FAO can support.

The organisation is also hoping to help member states apply its new strategic framework, informally called the ‘four betters’ – better production, better nutrition and better environment for a better life.

For Caribbean countries with small land areas contending with unstable global markets, there’s a lot at stake if the region is unable to expand and diversify its food production collectively.

“Previously, people thought of disruption of food supply in terms of hurricanes or some very temporary events. We’ve seen that this biological event, this COVID, actually disrupted food supply for an extended period,” said Dr Clarke

“If this continues, we are going to see huge price hikes, so again, we have to see who are the vulnerable.

“Already, the Caribbean has the negative distinction as being the place where the cost of a healthy diet is already the highest in the world. So when prices rise, what will that mean for food security?

“Clearly, people who are already not eating healthily will be eating less healthily. How do we plan for this? And the response remains much the same as what we decided during COVID; to be accelerating local production, ensuring that local farmers do get the support that they need in terms of extension services, in terms of advice and deploying technology more effectively to increase efficiency of production.

“That is why it is important to have a strong Caribbean participation so that there is a clear view of what the Caribbean needs from FAO at this very particular moment and in a nutshell, that is what the conference is about; member-countries telling FAO what they need,” she added.

She also noted that the region had a lot of logistical work to do to facilitate the movement of food around the region and deeper cooperation with countries in the Global South.

“But in case of a global crisis, it’s nice to know that your food is going to come from one of the nearby islands instead of having to cross a distant ocean. So that, the Caribbean dimension of food security is important, and a lot is being done in terms of coordination and agreement,” said Dr Clarke.

“There is a ministerial task force within CARICOM that is looking precisely at food security and food production, and this is critical.

“In relation to South-South cooperation, there needs to be a lot of innovation. Within the Caribbean, we have limited land masses, we clearly want to be ramping up production while not compromising our natural resources. In this, south-south [cooperation] brings an opportunity for new ideas, technological support, new water management systems, new approaches to precision agriculture, sharing of ideas, so that we can leapfrog and get to better, more efficient systems and more productive systems in the best way,” she added.
kareemsmith@barbadostoday.bb