WAKE-UP CALL FOR CARICOM

“WE are too reliant on others for something as fundamental as the food that we eat.”

Sobering words from Dr. Lystra Fletcher-Paul, lecturer in Biometrics in the Faculty of Food and Agriculture at The University of the West Indies (The UWI), St. Augustine Campus, during an online discussion entitled “COVID-19: A Wake-Up Call for Regional Food & Nutrition Security”.

Dr. Fletcher-Paul agreed that COVID-19 is a wake-up call for CARICOM nations, many of which are import-dependent, recognising that the majority of Caribbean countries record less than five per cent of their Gross Domestic Product in agriculture annually.

“Countries which have more than ten per cent are Suriname, Guyana, Dominica and Haiti. It is no surprise that these are countries that can feed themselves.”

Saddled with a US$6 billion food import bill, and with only Haiti qualifying for food aid, she says it places the region in a difficult position during COVID-19.

“Between 60 and 80 per cent of the food that we consume is imported. Most of the foreign exchange that we are gaining, a lot of it is going into importing food. So we have a burgeoning food import bill, between 60 and in some cases 80 per cent of the food we consume is imported and about 90 per cent of that food imported comes from the USA.

“If you look at the composition of the food that we are importing, we are seeing that we are importing food preparation, which is processed food; food that is high in sugar, fat and salt. In other words, we are importing food to kill ourselves,” she lamented.

“If 90 per cent of the food that we are importing comes from the US, and we are seeing the long lines for food in Texas, we are seeing the closure of the meat factories, we anticipate reduced imports along the supply chain.”

The lecturer singled out and commended the Government of Barbados for identifying 750 acres of land for local production in an effort to reduce the island’s food import bill.

During her presentation, she also observed that there has been an increase in domestic production as a result of the pandemic.

“From the time the lockdown was announced, people were rushing to the input suppliers to buy seeds and fertilisers and potting soil to plant their own backyard garden.

“There has also been an increase in food from hotels and restaurants because they were expecting guests, but with the restrictions in travel, they have all this food and nobody to feed it to. So we expect increased food available from the restaurants and hotels. But with that increased food, we expect increased losses and waste because some of that food, fresh fruits and vegetables, which they may not be able to get off their hands very readily.”

The lecturer cautioned that in that sector, there tends to be an aging farming population.

“That aging farming population is vulnerable to COVID-19. They are among the high risk groups. We expect that because the number of people who will be out of jobs will be increasing, we expect increasing poverty and a higher number of vulnerable people,” she cautioned. (JH)