-as the Caribbean looks to rebuild agri-sector, meet regional food security targets
-President Ali says

IN the Caribbean, it is imperative to prioritise regional initiatives aimed at improving food security and strengthening resilience. This is particularly crucial as leaders shift their attention towards the recovery and revitalisation of the agriculture sector in the aftermath of hurricane Beryl.

In light of this, President Dr. Irfaan Ali of Guyana, who serves as the primary Head of Government overseeing agriculture, agricultural diversification, and food security within the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Quasi Cabinet, announced, on Tuesday, that there will be a shift in focus towards high yielding and short rotation crops in order to meet the region’s food security goal.
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.

“We will be successful in reducing that food import bill and expanding our production, especially now focusing on high yielding short rotation crops, especially for a tourism sector and that would help our agri-businesses to generate more revenue and also to be more sustainable,” Dr. Ali said while addressing a closing press conference for the 47th CARICOM summit in Grenada.
With an initial damage assessment of US$150 million to the sector, international support is needed to rebuild and recover, Dr. Ali highlighted.
“Unfortunately, many of the advancements we made under the 25 by 25, programme is placed at risk because of hurricane Beryl and we are of course conscious that this season has just begun and the challenges ahead of us will be enormous,” the Guyanese Head of State further noted.

He highlighted that the region was ‘on track’ in relation to the target, with a set deployment of technology, the use of innovation, and expanded involvement of youth and women in agricultural production and food systems across the region.
“The expansion of production itself and reduction of imports all point to the fact that we have successfully navigated the challenge of reducing the food import bill.”
Prior to the arrival of Hurricane Beryl, the region experienced a 12 per cent decrease in its food imports, amounting to over $500 million.
“We saw expansion in cultivation, expansion in production from almost every member state. So we are confident with the investments we are making and with the type of dedication and policy formulation from heads and the region as a whole, notwithstanding the challenges that are before us, we will be successful.”

Dr. Ali stressed that there will be a need for tremendous support internationally, pointing out that damage cost of US$150 million is only the preliminary figured derived from rapid assessments.
“We have not even put a cost on land degradation. Because for example, in Grenada, we visited some areas where obviously there was tremendous land degradation so we continue to call on all the organisations reaching internationally to support the region as we try to rebuild and recover from these losses,” he said.
Already, CARICOM has engaged its partners in Canada.

In July, specifically earlier in the month, a category four hurricane named Beryl made landfall on several islands including Barbados, Grenada, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Jamaica, and others.
Devastating damage to infrastructure was 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.
The Guyanese leader had disclosed that he would engage regional and international partners such as the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisations (FAO), Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) and The Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa).