By Dillon Goring
THE novel coronavirus has had a tremendous impact on food security worldwide, including Guyana.
Many have resorted to becoming entrepreneurs by planting their kitchen gardens, rather than paying frequent visits to the country’s markets for produce, so that their families can eat healthier.

Globally, food security faces several challenges across both production and consumption, which research will be essential to solving.
Many countries are facing the double burden of hunger and undernutrition alongside obesity, with one in three people across the globe currently suffering from some form of malnutrition. Indeed, it is not unusual to find people with different forms of malnutrition living side-by-side in one country, in one community, or even in the same household, according to a report from a food-security website www.foodsecurity.ac.uk

The report also noted that the prevalence rates of obesity and non-communicable diseases are increasing in both developing and developed countries.
Another report which deals Food Security and Agriculture (Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), the German Development Institute indicated that nearly 800 million people will go hungry, do not have enough food to eat and do not live healthy lifestyles.

It also cited a lack of access to food as among the main causes of food insecurity worldwide.
However, here in Guyana, the agency that manages food security is reporting that Guyana is fully prepared and ready with enough food to cushion the effects of the pandemic.
During an interview with Pepperpot Magazine, Director of the National Agricultural Research and Extension Institute (NAREI) Dr. Odhu Homenauth noted that Guyana has an adequate supply of food to cushion the effects of the pandemic.
“Well, we do import, we import a number of items such as wheat flour, onions, potatoes and garlic, etc, but my estimate, I would say that we satisfy 70 percent of our demand,” the director told Pepperpot Magazine.

The Guyana Chronicle recently published an article titled “Home Garden, a safety net and nightmare in 2020”, dated December 31, 2020 and noted that the emergence of the novel coronavirus in December 2019 brought hunger to the doorsteps of millions globally and in Guyana, scores of persons, particularly entrepreneurs, have suffered loss of incomes, with many pursuing the creation of kitchen gardens as a cushion to ensure food security. Even though home-gardening has proved to be a safety net for many families, it has also been a nightmare for some others, especially those who were attempting gardening for the first time.

In this article, agronomist Aditya Persaud noted that many persons have invested significantly in preparing home gardens that only reaped frustrations instead of fruits, in an attempt to secure food security.

It was further noted that when the pandemic first hit the shores of Guyana, many Guyanese feared a shortage of food due to what was reflected internationally.
According to Dr Homenauth, in an interview with the Guyana Chronicle dated May 9, 2020, there is evidence to prove that the nation’s food supply is secure, at a time when the local economy has been hit by external and internal shocks caused by the COVID pandemic.
The National Agricultural Research and Extension Institute (NAREI) has been the institution that has been monitoring the local production of fruits and vegetables and has indicated an increase in production of over 179,000 tonnes, as compared to 170,000 tonnes in the first quarter of 2019, according to the NAREI Director.