– reveals need for cold storage, vital sanitary conditions
– report submitted to CARICOM

By Naomi Parris in Barbados
Food security has been a priority on the agenda of Caribbean officials, and with a target set to reduce the region’s food importation expenditure, regional circulation of produce has dominated discussions.

However, the region’s supply chain faces many challenges, and a recent study conducted by the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) has unveiled the urgent need for upgrades to transportation and logistics to improve cold storage and vital sanitary regulations to transport produce across the region.

During an interview with the Guyana Chronicle, in St. Michael Barbados, CDB’s Director of Projects, Therese Turner-Jones, disclosed several outcomes of a maritime transport study that was conducted to examine the transport of produce from Guyana to other Caribbean Community (CARICOM) member states.

“What we looked at is what are the existing ways of transporting produce, food stuff from Guyana to the rest of region … What the study found is that there are some big players, the well-established ships that transport most of our goods to the region and big containers that are refrigerated, versus the schooners, which are smaller which are mostly—let’s call them ferries that take cargo and produce,” Mrs. Turner-Jones said.

CARICOM has outlined several initiatives over the past years to reduce its mammoth US$6 billion food import bill.
The aim is to slash this expenditure by 25 per cent by the year 2025.

Guyana has been charged with leading the push for food security, the country’s Head of State, Dr. Irfaan Ali, who is also the current chairman of the intergovernmental organisation holds the responsibility for food security and agriculture, while the country’s Agriculture Minister, Zulfikar Mustapha is the chairperson for CARICOM’s Ministerial Task Force on Agriculture.

Guyana has been steadily increasing its food production and expanding the cultivation of new crops like corn, soybeans, and wheat to meet the demands of not only its domestic market but also the entire region.
“Guyana can grow anything, Guyana can really feed all of us coming straight up to the Bahamas, [Guyana] is naturally endowed with good soil and lots of land,” Turner-Jones said.

While this is the case, she said the way food is currently being transported across the region is ‘not optimal’.
“There are issues with no cold storage for example, which means by the time the produce lands in a place like Barbados, which is not even that far away, some of the produce may not have nutritional content anymore or some may have perished.”

FERRY SERVICE
Although these challenges exist, efforts are being made to establish a maritime system to transport goods, as well as Caribbean nationals.
Just recently, President Ali announced that Guyana, Barbados, and Trinidad and Tobago have partnered to establish a ferry service that will transport cargo and passengers.

Following that, Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley of Trinidad and Tobago revealed that the Galleons Passage, a renowned vessel that regularly navigates the waters of the twin islands, will be utilised for transporting goods.

“This is a decision which is driven by the need to move raw materials and fresh produce from the producing areas to the consumption and manufacturing areas within this sub-zone of Caricom (TT, Guyana, Barbados),” Rowley was quoted as saying by Trinidad and Tobago News Day.

Food trade among CARICOM nations has also increased, with ongoing partnerships such as the black belly sheep project in Guyana, the expansion of shade houses in Barbados, and the further expansion of rice cultivation in Trinidad and Tobago.
“Guyana is currently helping Barbados with the shade house programme, and I am pleased to say that we have already supplied them with 12 shade houses so far, and very soon we will be supplying them with an additional 35 shade houses.

Some of our technical people from Guyana will be going to Barbados to set it up for them and to also examine the types of crops that they will be planting,” Minister Mustapha said in a recent publication of this newspaper.

Furthermore, he shared that there were existing agreements with farmers from Guyana to secure the exportation of various types of fresh produce to Barbados. According to the Agriculture Minister, Guyana is currently engaged in the export of modest quantities of fruits and vegetables to Barbados.

Meanwhile, Mustapha further added that Guyana has been working with Trinidad and Tobago to help them resuscitate their rice industry. He also added that they are looking to help them with their shade house programme as well as aquaculture.

Upon his recent visit to Guyana, Minister Mustapha said that the Prime Minister of St. Lucia, Philip Joseph Pierre, requested their help in developing the agriculture sector in his territory.
“Guyana is not only discussing and working with Barbados; we are working with all of our CARICOM countries,” Mr. Mustapha said.

RECOMMENDATIONS
According to Turner-Jones from CDB, the comprehensive report regarding the evaluation of the financial institution has been submitted to CARICOM, along with the proposed recommendations.

“We also found that during that study that the transportation is one aspect; the other piece that needs work is getting the producers of [food products] to observe vital, sanitary, and good packaging so that when those goods get to the market, they are the same shape as say something coming out of Miami.”

The final report has not been released to the public yet. However, Turner-Jones revealed that significant recommendations were made to enhance smaller ferry services and further scrutinise sanitary conditions for food transportation.

“One important thing is the need to have cold storage on these ferries, vital sanitary conditions, so a lot of technical things like that, that relates to the integrity of the produce when they leave Guyana in this particular case and making sure from end to end these produce are getting the best shot of making it to the market.”

The upcoming weekend will witness the convening of the 46th Regular Meeting of the Conference of CARICOM Heads of Government in Guyana. The conference is anticipated to focus on food security as one of the key topics.