The issue of food security has always been one of critical importance but in recent years, especially against the backdrop of climate change, a rising global population and soaring fuel prices, it has assumed even greater importance.

What is worrisome is the current high prices of food items and all the predictions by experts and the relevant agencies that indicate a bleak future with respect to prices.

What is also troubling is that soaring food prices hit the poor and vulnerable the hardest and worsen their already perilous poverty-stricken state.

According to data from the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), published Tuesday, global food prices have barely budged since April, but the big picture remains bleak: the global price for a basket of basic foods is still 37% higher than it was this time last year.
High and volatile food prices are also likely to prevail for the rest of the year, and into 2012, according to the FAO’s biannual report on global food markets, also published on Tuesday. The UN agency warns that weather conditions – too much or too little rain – could weaken maize and wheat yields in Europe and North America, and an overall rundown on food inventories is set to tighten global supply.
Earlier this year, international food prices soared to levels last seen in 2007-08, when a global food crisis provoked riots in 30 countries. Last week, Oxfam launched a new international campaign on the global food system, warning that food prices could double over the next 20 years and mark the beginning of a permanent food crisis.
JOHN FOLEY, in his article published December last year, ‘Global Food Prices in 2011 Face Perilous Rise’ notes:
“A warning sign is the price of traded staples like wheat, corn and rice. Prices shot up in 2010, soaring 26 percent from June to November and brushing the peaks of 2008, according to the Food Price Index kept by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. That hits poor countries that import much of their food, including the Philippines, Mexico, Nigeria and Pakistan.”
“High prices deprive the poor, who already spend as much as half of their income on food. The market still clears, but at a riot-inducing high price. In India, where the cost of onions has in the past led to the upending of governments, prices of the good have again skyrocketed.”
Heads: “Food riots in 2011 are possible, but not inevitable. Granted, the world will have to get used to more food scares as the population expands and the diets of the poor get richer. But the moment when humanity outgrows the earth is thankfully not yet here. Cool-headed policies can still prevent a real crisis.”
Fortunately, our country which perhaps is the only one within CARICOM that is self-sufficient in food production and a net exporter of food, has been able to cope with global changes with respect to food prices and production. This no doubt is largely due to the government’s emphasis on agriculture through sound and visionary policies and programmes. And CARICOM’s appointment of President Bharrat Jagdeo as the Head of State with responsibility for agriculture is a recognition of this fact.
However, it is unfortunate that some CARICOM member states have been lethargic in responding to the visionary Jagdeo Initiative on agriculture. This lethargy will put further pressure on the region to ensure food security for its people. Therefore, it is hoped that the current Trinidad and Tobago meeting on food security results in concrete and practical measures to move the Jagdeo Initiative forward so that the region will eventually become self-sufficient in food.
Agriculture Minister Robert Persaud was definitely on the ball when he exhorted that CARICOM needs to get its act together when it comes to investment in agriculture, and pointed out that Guyana has proactive national policies to ensure that the nation copes with global changes, particularly as they relate to  food security.
“I have always asserted to our international partners and investors that a dollar spent in agriculture here not only benefits Guyanese; it is an indirect investment in the region’s food supply system,” he said.
He noted that Guyana is not only food secure, but a net exporter of food.
“Guyana has been firm in advocating investment in agriculture…there is still work to do,” Persaud said.