Prime Minister and Chairman of the COVID-19 taskforce, Moses Nagamootoo at a news conference on Thursday stated that Guyana has the advantage to boost food security in the Region, noting that this country has long been touted as the food basket of the Region, similar to the way Trinidad and Tobago has been thought of as the Caribbean’s industrial basin.
“Guyana has always been considered the food basket of the Caribbean from the point of view of having vast natural resources of fertile land, fertile soil, clean air, clean water and vast land space,” the prime minister said. The issue of food production is assuming an ever increasing importance as the world grapple with the fallout from the COVID-19 disease. In addition, even before the current pandemic the world was challenged with adequate food with an increasing world population and with the shrinking in arable lands and water resources.
Only this week the United Nations said the world is at risk of widespread famines “of biblical proportions” caused by the coronavirus pandemic. David Beasley, head of the World Food Programme (WFP), said urgent action was needed to avoid a catastrophe. A report estimates that the number suffering from hunger could go from 135 million to more than 250 million. Those most at risk are in 10 countries affected by conflict, economic crisis and climate change, the WFP says.
Today many countries are finding it increasingly challenging to meet their national demands for food, especially those that are hit regularly by drought and other natural disasters. And as the factors of climate change and global warming bite deeper the situation with global food production and supply are creating even greater difficulties and complications.
The outlook is, so far: unfortunately dismal. Recent reports outline in stark terms the relationship between climate change, more severe and frequent natural disasters, and their effects on current and future hunger should the world not solve its food supply, distribution, and insecurity problems.
Here in the Caribbean region leaders have recognised the need to pay special focus on agriculture because neglect in this vital sector by many countries has resulted in a staggering annual food importation bill of some US$3 billion.
CARICOM Chair, Prime Minister of Barbados Mia Mottley recently said that the notion of a “single domestic space” for CARICOM with regard to travel, food security, health and more, has now become more important. She said that with globalisation expected to return to the world region by region, countries will have to rely on their neighbours for support and there is no better time for the Region to band together than now. At the Ninth Special Emergency Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of CARICOM on April 15, food security was high on the agenda. “Guyana has always been considered the food basket of the Caribbean from the point of view of having vast natural resources of fertile land, fertile soil, clean air, clean water and vast land space.
Guyana, like so many of its sister CARICOM member states, has a traditional history of agricultural activity, that has its genesis in the sugar plantation system. And along our very expansive coastal belt, cane-farming, whether as a private or state activity, is still very much in evidence. But there are hundreds of rice and coconut farms, and numerous examples of other-crops activities, as well.
It is because of this continuous activity through the decades, that Guyana for a while had largely been recognised as the food basket of the Caribbean, an accolade that assumed even greater significance for a period during our early modern political history with the Grow More Food campaign, as part of the Clothe, House and Feed the nation plan. Citizens, particularly those in Georgetown and its environs, were encouraged to plant ground provisions and other crops on every available land space around their homes and residences. Even public offices took part in this national food drive.
No doubt, that such a project did reveal what can be achieved, despite criticisms from the then political opposition of the day that later in government, introduced a similar national call, especially to farmers to “Grow More.”
However, despite its importance as a pivotal economic activity and contributor to national GDP and keeping the nation fed, national agriculture has continued to face national challenges. There are questions too, such as whether optimal use has been made of the country’s vast arable land opportunities – the hinterland; and the critical issue of diversification. More important, is the question of food security, so vital to the growth and development of developing countries.
The hinterland as an agricultural producer to the national food chain can be said to be under-utilised, given its vast land opportunities that have traditionally centred its produce on mostly ground provisions. This explains why residents, within the wider hinterland, have lived a reliance on food supplies from the coastlands. But this has been undergoing gradual transformation within recent years, with initiatives such as a Rice Beans Project, and spice cultivation in Region One. There is also fruit and peanut-planting at Aranaputa, Region Nine.
However, with the government’s introduction of a five-year Action Plan, the acceleration is under way to advance large-scale agriculture in a more diversified and climate-resilient manner. The emphasis will be to transform agriculture in Region Nine, making maximum use of its vast arable land. A target area of 400 acres for this programme is to cater for acquaculture, livestock development, crops, and ruminants. This reflects the introduction of large-scale agriculture, or mega farms, into the intermediate and Rupununi savannahs; introducing eco-friendly and cost- effective methods. It also hints at diversification, taking the lessons learnt from the parlous state of the sugar industry which is debt-ridden, due to its unprofitability and other factors. Food security is the stimulator and engine of the economic production of especially developing nations. For apart from increasing the purchasing power of farmers who sell their marketable produce, it is an important foreign exchange earner — It protects a nation and its peoples’ dignity.
