-by Svetlana Marshall-
Highlighting that all is not well in Latin America and the Caribbean with food security, President Irfaan Ali today urged the Region’s Agriculture Ministers to devise an integrated plan to tackle the issue of food insecurity as the region’s people continue to pay dearly for a healthy diet.
In his keynote address, during a high-level agriculture ministerial meeting hosted by the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) in Guyana, President Ali said countries must pool their resources to bring down the high cost of food in the region, and adequately respond to the food and nutritional needs of the people.
He said the situation on the ground is grim, with the number of hungry people in the region on the increase.
“Between 2019 and 2021, the number of hungry people in our region increased by 13.2 million, that is, in three years. The number of hungry persons increased by 13.2 million. The prevalence of hunger was 7.9% in South America, and 18.4% in the Caribbean. Sometimes, we are of the mistaken view in CARICOM that all is well, that all is well. The moderate and severe food insecurity in Latin American and the Caribbean was higher than the global average,” he told the regional leaders.
President Ali said when compared to the other regions of the world, people in Latin America and the Caribbean pay the highest cost to maintain a healthy diet.
Noting that something is definitely wrong, President Ali said it clear that the current model being used by the region to feed its people is not working.
“The existing framework is not working. Whatever we are doing at this moment has given the people of our region the highest cost for a healthy diet. And in the CARICOM Region, we know why. Because the distributors, do not want to disrupt their business arrangement and find it easier to import all of the junk you could find from outside of the region,” the President said.
He said CARICOM is currently looking to re-engineer its supply chain by turning to Northern Brazil, even as it works to build its capacity to provide healthy food to its people at an affordable cost.
Notwithstanding that approach, President Ali underscored the need for Latin American and the Caribbean Region to streamline its policies in tackling Food and Nutrition Security by incorporating Health, Education, and Technology. He said the roles of the Health and Education Sectors must be clearly defined.
President Ali also said that there is need for a cultural change in how the region’s people view nutrition, and their nutritional needs. He said from a tender age, children must be taught the importance of eating healthy.
“If we educate the children, and they become the custodian of good eating habits, then we will be saving in the long term, in terms of the healthcare cost,” he said.
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Minister of Agriculture, Forestry, Fisheries, Rural Transformation, Industry and Labour, Saboto Caesar, and Guyana’s Minister of Agriculture, Zulfikar Mustapha were among the regional ministers present at the meeting held at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre.
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