AS the novel coronavirus pandemic continues to lay bare our vulnerabilities, our food insecurity has been pushed to the forefront now, more than ever before.

Additionally, our position as one of the most food insecure regions on the planet is now being further accentuated by the ongoing disruptions in global supply chains. This has, in turn, driven up shipping costs and with it an accompanying increase in the prices of everything we consume, including the food on our table.

It goes without saying that everyone will be affected, especially our most vulnerable citizens, as our economies continue to reel from the onslaught of the novel coronavirus pandemic.

According to the Caricom Secretariat, the food import bill for the Caribbean Community stood at US$4.98 billion in 2018, which was more than double our US$2.08-billion food import tab of 2000. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has indicated that, if current trends continue, similar exponential increases in our food import bill will take place in the coming years. The figures paint a worrisome picture of our current situation.

As a Caribbean community, by and large, we import more than 60 per cent of the food we consume, with some countries importing more than 80 per cent of the food they consume. According to the FAO, only Belize, Guyana, and Haiti produce more than 50 per cent of the food they consume.

Given the already high levels of debt, increasing unemployment, and more of our people falling into poverty because of the novel coronavirus pandemic, continued heavy reliance on imported food is simply unsustainable. This external dependence also heightens our vulnerability from a national security standpoint. COVID-19, by now, has shown us that, globally, countries put their citizens first, as we have seen in the case of vaccine distribution. Consequently, laying the foundation for food security must be of the highest priority for us as a Caribbean region.

In this regard, it is good to see that Caribbean governments have set a target to reduce regional food imports in 2025 by 25 per cent — ’25 in 5′ — and many countries have committed to undertake policy measures and incentives that support food production in our region.

The obvious question is: How can this be achieved when the conventional wisdom has been that, save for countries like Belize, Guyana and Suriname, we simply do not have land space to produce on the scale required to make us food secure? In the meantime, other countries, like Israel have turned conventional wisdom on its head by effectively embracing technology to build food security. We must do the same.

For us in the Caribbean, the introduction of new technologies presents a major opportunity to accelerate food production, create jobs, and attract investment. Embracing and accelerating the use of technology in agriculture (agtech) makes sense since it allows us to produce more with less, making food production more efficient.

In agriculture, innovations using technology such as hydroponics and aquaponics have circumvented the need for extensive cultivable land, which has been a major constraint in many of our small territories. The introduction of artificial intelligence, analytics, connected sensors, and other emerging technologies could further increase yields, improve the efficiency of water and other inputs, as well as build sustainability and resilience across crop cultivation, animal husbandry, and agro-processing.

However, with few exceptions, we have been slow to embrace the widescale use of new technology in our food production systems. This is not a challenge faced solely by the Caribbean, as the World Economic Forum has noted that, for its member territories, only US$14 billion in investments in 1,000 food systems-focused start-ups has been generated since 2010, while health care attracted US$145 billion in investments in 18,000 start-ups during the same time period. However, notwithstanding the challenges, in addition to Israel, countries such as the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have been paving the way in leveraging technology in agriculture and getting the requisite investments to make it a success.

For us at the Caribbean Export Development Agency (CEDA), there is a path forward. We have worked with the Caribbean Association of Investment Promotion Agencies (CAIPA) to identify ag-tech as a priority sector to attract foreign-direct investment, as well as to stimulate regional capital flows.

CEDA is fully committed to the goal of 25 in 5 and we have begun our work in concert with our partners to define a mechanism to position the region’s agtech opportunities to regional and international investors. During Caribbean Week of Agriculture, we are convening the first-ever Caribbean AgTech Investment Summit from October 5 to 9, which will be headlined by the president of Guyana, Irfaan Ali. Here we will be presenting investment opportunities that are available in the region in the ag-tech sector and helping to define a way forward to assist the region in improving its ag-tech investment offering. More information on the event can be found at: www.carib-export.com/event/caribbean-agtech-investment-summit/

It is important to emphasise that to build food security, the private sector has an essential role and farming must be seen as a business that is attractive for our youth. This is precisely why we will continue supporting producers who are looking to the export market and taking advantage of opportunities such as those provided by the Economic Partnership Agreement with the European Union. This is with specific reference to building the capacities of regional producers to access high-value markets such as those in Europe.

Additionally, we remain committed to using our grants programme, financed by the European Union, to help support our businesses across the region to access these markets.

At CEDA we recognise that, whilst these measures are important, an all-hands-on-deck approach is required with the appropriate enabling environment in place. This means that national, regional, and international partners must work in unison to help drive an agenda for Caribbean food security. We are committed to such a partnership which we believe will not only deliver food security, but also precious jobs and opportunities for our people.

Deodat Maharaj is the executive director of the Caribbean Export Development Agency. Send comments to the Jamaica Observer or dmaharaj@carib-export.com