–Dr Ramsammy urges Caribbean leaders

MINISTER of Agriculture Dr. Leslie  Ramsammy has urged Caribbean leaders to “walk the talk” when it comes to investments in agriculture, Caribbean integration, and making the Region self-sufficient in food.

“If they’re  going to talk the talk, they must  walk the talk. They must walk it like they talk it,” he stressed,  noting that  food imports in the Caribbean amounted to US$5.2B in 2013, while most of these foods could have been produced in the Region itself.

UNACCEPTABLE
He said that he found  it unacceptable that the investment in agriculture in countries in CARICOM,  outside of Guyana and Belize and to some extent Suriname  and Dominica, is   less than 2% of  the Region’s  Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
He said that in this context many were hypocritical about the real reasons for poverty in the Region.
“Many of us are poor because we eat too much of what we do not produce. In importing food much of our hard earned currency is supporting jobs and supporting entrepreneurships and supporting the economies of other countries,” Dr Ramsammy emphasised.

‘Most of the imported foodstuff that  CARICOM countries spent US$5.2 billion on last year  can be produced right here in the Caribbean’ – Agriculture Minister, Dr Leslie Ramsammy

He said that there is a Caribbean Agriculture Policy and there is the Jagdeo Initiative and there is much loud talk about the benefits of these plans but there has not been much investment since  at the moment  most of the Ministries of Agriculture in the Caribbean have no Jagdeo Initiative-type programmes.
“We know what has to been done, but we just talking.”
He noted that  most of the imported foodstuff that  CARICOM countries spent US$5.2 billion on last year  can be produced right here in the Caribbean.
He said that Guyana has over 300,000 tonnes of rice to feed people with but  people in the Bahamas are buying rice from the United States. “So also do the Jamaicans and the Haitians too,  so Guyana has to be looking for markets in Africa  for its rice.”

TILAPIA
He said that Trinidad annually  buys some US$500M worth of tilapia from China which Guyana can provide.
He said that there may be  real problems why certain food items   cannot move around the Caribbean but the leaders have to work on  resolving these issues.
“This is what real integration is about… We haven’t learnt yet what integration means.”

He said: “We the leaders need a paradigm shift in this Region, because the money that we spend on importing food into this Region  can create the economic stability and the economic growth and the environment for our people and our children  so that they can live a lifestyle that is more in tune with the potential that exists.”
In a hard hitting style, he said: “But we only just talking.”
He stressed that it is high time that Caribbean leaders change the  dispensation and ensure that rural women and youths in agriculture are as important and priority items in development plans not just when  there is talk  about agriculture but when there is talk about development, “period”.
He stressed that the Caribbean Region has the  genuine opportunity and chance to be one of the first developing countries sub- regions  not only to end poverty and end hunger but provide opportunities for entrepreneurship for even people  who don’t have  too much money.”
He said that the idea of replacing food imports in the Caribbean  with local produce is  not rocket science.
He said: “It’s what you and I and all of us know what to do. So I ask that we  work together to change our current dispensation, to have a paradigm shift and for Caribbean leaders and Caribbean people to know that  agriculture is still our vehicle to paradise.”
He stressed: “Paradise is not far away  but we have taken a different road; we need to put the vehicle back on the road to paradise.”

(By Clifford Stanley)