Even though Guyana is a net exporter of food it is not insulated from the impact of global food prices.
Guyana is the only country in the Caribbean basin which can claim the status as a net exporter of food; but this fact does not necessarily cushion us against the impacts of the price of food, as the prices of the world’s commodities are a function of global supply and demand. And of course, we are particularly vulnerable to the inexorable rise in the cost of fuel and other inputs needed for food production…
So what is necessary, and has resulted in the PPP/C administration unveiling several pivotal important economic interventions to cushion the impact on Guyanese, especially the most vulnerable groups. This is a holistic effort within the agricultural community to diversify production and rotate crops in order to sustain viability of the sector, especially in view of the global economics and the impacts of the climate change phenomenon.
All across the world the crisis has been unfolding at an alarming speed, whereby food prices have been increasing on a daily basis, with many communities in various countries even facing starvation.
The devastation of crops by natural phenomena, as well as other man-made disasters is expected to continue to have a significant impact on the price of staples.
As Joachim von Braun, Head of the International Food Policy Research Institute in Washington has said “world agriculture has entered a new, unsustainable and politically risky period, shown by the food riots that have erupted in countries all along the equator.”
However, the productive capability of countries clustered around the equator is climactically advantageous, and the region, rather than being the early indicators of social upheaval when food prices are affected, can begin to look at these situations as opportunities.
Guyana, although relatively better off, due to the aggressive steps taken by the government to cushion prices by zero-rating more food items and significantly reducing taxes on fuel, whilst significantly increasing disposable income, among other interventions, is poised to take advantage of the opportunities. However, a concerted, patriotic effort is needed across the entire spectrum of our society to begin to grapple with the changes we must make.
Our future can be a bright one, even as the world faces a dawn on a horizon on which looms the issues of climate change and the increasingly erratic weather phenomena associated with it, unaffordable and increasingly unavailable fuel, and increasing demand for food as consumer patterns change in emerging economies and competition for food acreage from bio-fuel.
The nexus of climatic impacts, geo-political strategies, energy inflation and fertiliser inflation, and shifting consumer patterns have formed an inter-related population of factors which all contribute to increasing food prices, whether they are emerging and their effects only now being felt, or they have been around for a significant length of time.
What is clear is that the combination of global factors is now fuelling the current high prices across all continents, as well as here at home.
The identifiable contributory factors minister include, inter alia:  Record oil prices have increased the cost of agricultural production by boosting the cost of fertilizer and pesticides, mechanized cultivation and transport of inputs to production and processing centres and outputs to markets. Also to be taken into consideration is the increased demand for food and changes in eating habits, as well as rapid economic growth in many developing countries, especially China and India.
Thus the continuum of interventions by Government in all sectors, with special focus on the agriculture sector, has assured Guyana of food security, while yet being constrained by the influences of global imperatives and impacts.