In June 2022, I brought to the Senate a Private Member’s Resolution to discuss the issue of food security in Barbados. The objective of my efforts was to bring to the attention of the Senate and indeed to the attention of Barbados society, the precarious situation of food security in this nation. The bill was grounded in the fact that we only produce about 20 per cent of our food and was presented in the context of the proposal by the CARICOM Heads of State to reduce the food import bill of the Caribbean by 25 per cent by 2025. With that date being months away from today, in my view, the goal is unlikely to be met.
The economists of the world have predicted increases in the cost of food in 2024 due to global shipping challenges and volatile climatic conditions. They have indicated that due to the war in Gaza and climatic challenges in the Panama Canal, ships will need an extra three weeks for food to be transported around Africa. This will impact food prices globally.
A recent report prepared by the CARICOM Secretariat and the World Food Programme indicates an increasing level of food insecurity in the Caribbean region.
According to the report: “An estimated 2.8 million people or nearly 40 per cent of the population in the English-speaking Caribbean is food insecure, one million more than in April 2020.
“Severe food insecurity continues to increase in the region with the current figure 72 per cent higher when compared to April 2020. Highlighting the lasting impact of the pandemic, two years in, the results demonstrate deteriorating food consumption and diets with 25 per cent of respondents eating less preferred foods, 30 per cent skipping meals or eating less than usual and five per cent going an entire day without eating in the week leading up to the survey.
“High food prices continue to affect people’s ability to afford a nutritious diet with 93 per cent of respondents reporting higher prices for food compared to 59 per cent in April 2020. The ongoing crisis in Ukraine is expected to create an even deeper impact on the cost of basic goods and services in the Caribbean.”
This situation has led me to prepare a document which is entitled “Food Security – a Threat to the Sustainable Development of Caribbean Economies “ in which I point out that food insecurity is an existential threat to the development of the Caribbean.
Since presenting my resolution in the Senate, the world food situation has worsened, and world food prices have increased substantially.
The war between Russia and Ukraine, climate crises globally and the new conflict between Israel and the Palestinians have all contributed to this escalation in food prices. In addition to these obvious circumstances, there are some other related issues which we as a small island developing state must consider.
Poor nutrition and poor food choices are major contributors to the high incidence of diabetes, hypertension, cancers and obesity in the Caribbean. These chronic non-communicable diseases continue to be a threat to the development of the region. Poor quality imported food high in salt, sugars, trans fats and pesticides are known to contribute to the prevalence of these diseases. The threat is expressed in three forms: a. Increasing costs of health care b. Increasing loss of productivity c. increasing levels of poverty.
One in every three children in Barbados is reported to be overweight or obese and at risk of developing a chronic non-communicable disease as they get older. We are also seeing more and more the effects of an unhealthy diet at younger ages. The current data shows that 8 out of every 10 deaths and 4 out of every 10 premature deaths in Barbados are due to an NCD.
According to a recent report from the Caribbean Development Bank: “The economic costs of NCDs will not only further burden our countries but also undercut productivity and human capital investments in education and health,” says Isaac Solomon, Vice President, Operations at the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB), who spoke at the launch event held on September 14, adding: “NCDs also result in loss of income; increased economic dependence and burden of care within households – the latter generally carried by women – and concurrent lifelong poverty traps. Failure to address NCDs undermines sustainable development and will also result in vulnerable and socially disadvantaged groups being left further behind.”
Over the period 2011-2030, NCDs will cost the global economy more than US$ 30 trillion, representing 48 per cent of global GDP in 2010, and pushing millions of people below the poverty line. Mental health conditions alone will account for the loss of an additional US$ 16.1 trillion over this time span, with a dramatic impact on productivity and quality of life (Source: World Economic Forum)
This data suggests that NCDs will be a threat to the sustainable development of Caribbean economies. The Healthy Caribbean Coalition and the Heart and Stroke Foundation are working hard to bring awareness to the people of the need for healthy lifestyles and healthy eating habits. The government’s new Nutrition policy for schools is a step in the right direction but these must be supported by strategies for the production of healthy food and a National Nutrition Policy.
The fundamental question before us therefore is: Will the next generation of Caribbean people be fit to confront the challenges of development and to take our region into the 22nd century if their health is compromised by chronic noncommunicable diseases?
Food security, as defined by the FAO and the United Nations Committee on World Food Security, means that all people, at all times, have physical, social, and economic access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food that meets their food preferences and dietary needs for an active and healthy life.
Given this definition, it is clear that Food Security is much more than Government actions to increase food supply because food insecurity undermines our national independence. Food dependence limits your independence and your capacity to make decisions in your own interest rather than in the interest of those who feed you.
Moving from a food-insecure nation to a food-secure nation therefore involves removing some of the last shackles of colonialism and using our God-given treasures of fertile flat lands for food production.
Food security is not and should not be a partisan political issue as recent evidence has shown that it is not good for our country to be at the mercy of another country for our food or energy supply. As long as we spend scarce foreign exchange to buy food, we will have less money to support health care, education and critical infrastructure projects.
Food security is a multidimensional subject and therefore we must engage the entire society in a process of transformation and an integrated approach if our efforts to improve our food security are going to be successful.
In May last year, the Government of Barbados in cooperation with the labour and the private sector issued the Declaration of Mission Barbados designed to” transform this country into a sustainable, prosperous, inclusive and resilient nation”. One of the pillars of this transformation as outlined is “Ensuring that all Barbadians have reliable access to clean water and affordable nutritious food”.
This goal will be difficult to achieve unless we improve the level of food security in this nation.
I therefore call today for the establishment of a Task Force on Food Security to coordinate a nationwide effort to improve the food security of our nation. This task force should be mandated to:
- Examine the current food import bill.
- Determine what products on the bill can be produced locally or replaced by local substitutes.
- Define areas, persons and appropriate incentives to produce the products identified.
- Coordinate supply efforts and contractual arrangements for Government institutions to purchase from local producers.
- Identify appropriate contract arrangements for hotels and restaurants to purchase from local producers.
- Review the price of local produce in relation to similar imported commodities and provide appropriate guidance on price controls where appropriate.
- Review standards and quality of local produce.
- Link producers with supermarkets and processors of agricultural produce
- Promote a consumer education programme to promote the consumption of locally produced food.
- Identify market opportunities for the preservation and processing of local agricultural produce.
- Help to guide government agricultural policies to support food security.
- Engage the media in a national Public Relations drive to consume locally produced food.
- Engage the University of the West Indies in carrying out analyses of the nutritional value of locally produced foods.
- Identify the technical and economic support needed for an effective food security programme.
- Incorporate programmes of food security in the Integrated Science curriculum of primary and secondary schools.
This task force should be led by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Security and should comprise a representative from the following:
- The private sector involved in food imports,
- The Barbados Agricultural Society
- The School Nutrition Programme
- The Heart and Stroke Foundation
- The Food Security Centre at the UWI
- The supermarket community
- The restaurant and hotel associations
- A nutrition specialist
- The consumer organisations
- A representative of the media
The task force should be mandated to prepare a comprehensive plan for improving food security in Barbados in six months.
The task force should have as its mantra that consumption of healthy local food is good for health, long life and the progress of our nation.
Chelston Brathwaite is a former director of the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), ambassador to China, and independent senator.
