Bajan agriculturalist proposes Caribbean food security agency

A prominent agricultural expert has called for the establishment of a regional food security agency, citing compounding challenges facing the region’s drive to feed itself.

Dr Chelston Brathwaite, former Director General of the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), made the appeal at the unveiling of a book collection in his name donated to the National Library Service and the Ministry of Agriculture.

“These are not ordinary times,” Dr Brathwaite said, pointing to the lingering effects of COVID-19, geopolitical unrest in Gaza and Ukraine, and ongoing climate change threats. “As we seek to build economies for the next 50 years of CARICOM, we need to place food security as a priority.”

The proposed Caribbean food security agency would coordinate regional efforts and mobilise the Caribbean community towards achieving food security, according to Dr Brathwaite. He emphasised the link between poor nutrition and the high incidence of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in the region.

“Poor nutrition and poor food choices are major contributors to the high incidence of diabetes, hypertension, cancers, and obesity in the Caribbean,” he noted. “These chronic, non-communicable diseases continue to be a threat to the development of the Caribbean region.”

Highlighting Barbados’s substantial food import bill, estimated at approximately $800 million, Dr Brathwaite questioned the reliance on foreign food supplies: “We pay farmers in Miami… Idaho… California… Mexico… and Thailand. Are we paying our own farmers?”

Citing a recent Caribbean Development Bank report, he added: “The current data shows that eight out of every ten deaths in this country are due to non-communicable diseases, and four out of every ten premature deaths in Barbados are due to an NCD.”

The former IICA head warned that the economic costs of NCDs would burden the country and undermine human capital investment. He argued that without self-sufficiency in food production, “people will continue to manipulate us. They will give us what they want at prices we cannot afford, which is bad for us, and then sell us medicine to treat the resulting health issues”.

Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture, Terry Bascombe echoed Dr Brathwaite’s concerns, distinguishing between food security and food sovereignty.

“You can be food secure if you have enough money to import food, but you will still be reliant on the rest of the world,” he said. “We are in a better place when we control our diets from seed to swallow.”

Dr Brathwaite concluded with a call to action: “We have to commit, as we have committed to sustainable energy, to becoming a food-secure nation. If we do nothing about it, the day will come when we will ask if the next generation of Caribbean people will be fit to confront the challenges of development.”

The remarks were made as Dr Brathwaite donated 200 books from his personal collection to the Ministry of Agriculture’s library, including nine authored by him.

Director of the National Library Service, Jennifer Yarde described the donation as “a unique collection of invaluable information, covering a wide range of topics in agriculture”.

Professor Emeritus Sir Henry Fraser commended Dr Brathwaite’s gesture, expressing hope that the library would make good use of the donation.