THE previous government attempted to push a policy of eating local foods which, in principle, was sound but it did not succeed because of several reasons.
Something may be good in principle but if it is not properly implemented or executed, it becomes just as good as bad and will eventually boomerang and that is what exactly happened in this instance. First of all, the policy was implemented in a coercive and autocratic manner without taking into consideration the cultural and religious traditions which are important in this country because the vast majority of Guyanese belong to religious groups and therefore religious traditions, beliefs, rituals and practices run deep.
The government then embarked aggressively on a thoughtless import substitution policy based on the infamous banning of almost every imported food item/commodity, including the staple wheaten flour. The hammer even fell on milk for which there was no substitute and one minister remarked that people should use coconut milk instead.
But that government could not care less about what people felt because it was not accountable to them as it continued to install itself in government through rigged elections.
And the truth of the matter is it was not genuinely committed to the policy which was actually a cover to conserve dwindling foreign reserves, a consequence of poor economic policies and mismanagement.
However, the eat more local foods campaign failed mainly because the agriculture sector was on its knees from a lack of investments and incentives, poor management and, to a large extent, political vindictiveness.
Consequently, food production plummeted and could not have coped with demand resulting in skyrocketing food prices and those who were around then know the rest of the story.
The present government has embarked on a laudable Grow More Food campaign and is also encouraging greater consumption of locally processed food but some naпve persons are trying to make out a case that it is mimicking the previous government’s policy.
What they fail to comprehend or recognise is the fact that this government is going about it in a completely different manner.
Instead of embarking on a nonsensical banning of food items and coercive methods, it has, through sound agricultural policies and programmes, boosted agricultural production to the point where Guyana has become self-sufficient in food production and a net exporter.
As such the preconditions for encouraging greater consumption of locally produced foods have been laid. And it is against such a background that the policy is being pursued.
On this note it was encouraging to see recently, through a partnership between the Ministry of Agriculture, the New Guyana Marketing Corporation and the Carnegie School of Home Economics, a demonstration of new dishes prepared from local food commodities.
During the exercise, Agriculture Minister Robert Persaud made a pertinent observation, noting that an improvement in Guyanese consumption of agricultural produce translates into positives for farmers and this country’s economy.
It would be good to take such activities across the country so that the entire population becomes enlightened and fully aware of the tremendous potential of preparing a wide variety of dishes and processing foods from local fruits and vegetables.