Caribbean food security programme to be launched today
A region-wide programme to ensure food security, poverty reduction and improvements in health and nutrition in the Caribbean will be officially launched in Port of Spain today.
The Caribbean Food Security, Health and Rural Poverty Programme is a joint project of the CARIFORUM (Caricom plus Dominican Republic and Cuba) and the United Nations’ Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO).
According to Dr P I Gomes, consultant programme manager, Jamaica, Haiti, Suriname, Guyana and Belize are the countries within the region where “food insecurity” appears to be more “notably widespread”. The aim of the programme, he said, is to improve “the level and quality of food available to the Caribbean population at affordable prices, particularly for the highly vulnerable and poor rural households of the 15-member CARIFORUM group of countries…”
The ceremonial launch of the programme, to be formally done by Trinidad and Tobago’s minister of agriculture, land and marine resources, Jarrett Narine, is part of a two-day implementation and planning meeting that ends tomorrow.
The programme is being co-ordinated from the FAO Country Office in Port of Spain and will provide specialised expertise in areas such as irrigation techniques for improving the productivity of farming communities, consulting services for policy studies and public education campaigns.
A working group is to be established to help formulate a regional food security strategy paper. Representatives will be drawn from regional institutions, producers’ associations, marketing agencies, private enterprises and non-governmental organisations.
A leading partner in the programme is Italy, whose government has allocated about US$50 million to a special trust fund to address world hunger and food insecurity among the rural poor. Approximately US$5 million has been identified for the joint Caricom/CARIFORUM/FAO programme activities.
A central feature of the programme will be a review of agricultural trade policies. It will also:
* explore linkages between improved health and nutrition policies;
* as well as introduce farmers’ organisations and small farm households to year-round production of vegetables and staple commodities for both local consumption and exports.
