–President Ali says, in wake of setback to CARICOM’s ‘25 by 2025’ food security objective caused by Hurricane Beryl

THE Caribbean’s agricultural sector has been severely devastated by Hurricane Beryl, and more than US$100 million will be needed for the Region to rebuild this vital sector, Guyana’s President and the outgoing Caribbean Community’s (CARICOM) Chairperson, Dr Irfaan Ali has said.

Dr. Ali, who is also the lead Head of Government with responsibility for agriculture, agricultural diversification and food security in the Region’s Quasi Cabinet, was at the time addressing the 47th Regular Meeting of the Conference of CARICOM Heads of Government in St. Georges, Grenada, on Sunday.
“[The] damage to the agricultural sector alone is more than US$100 million. And I’m not counting opportunity costs, because government now must reprioritise where they will spend the money,” President Ali said.
The reality now is that the sector will have to incur a budget cut, as funds will have to be redirected to rebuild in other sectors that have also been devastated by the category four storm.
Dr. Ali noted that prior to this natural disaster, the Region had been making progress in achieving both its regional and global food-security targets.
Referencing a recent regional report, Dr. Ali said that the Caribbean had reduced its food insecurity by 17 per cent since 2020.

Earlier this month, a category four Beryl made landfall on the islands of Barbados, Grenada, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Jamaica and several others.
Devastating damage to infrastructure were reported in the Grenadines and Grenada, while the fishing industry in Barbados took a ‘beating’ as over 200 vessels were destroyed during the passage of the storm.
“These were all islands that were on track mostly in achieving the 25 by 25 targets set by themselves,” President Ali had said in a previous address.
CARICOM had 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.
According to President Ali, there have been investments in the sectors — infrastructure, water systems, technology, crop variety, farm support and farm-to-market infrastructure; however, many of the states have lost these investments.
“Outside of this, you have hundreds of acres of commodities that were lost and production that was taken out instantaneously,” he said.
President Ali had said that while the “quick fix” will be to get food immediately to the islands that have been severely affected, a major concern will be ensuring that nutritional values are met.