As global supply chains continue to be impacted by the novel coronavirus pandemic and the war in Ukraine, calls have intensified on especially vulnerable Caribbean states to ramp up food production and to advance plans for food security.

Speaking at a Caribbean Development Bank’s (CDB’s) seminar held recently, Isaac Solomon, vice-president of operations at the regional financial institution, encouraged the bank’s member countries to prioritise food security initiatives while accelerating efforts towards the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

“With less than eight years left until 2030, it is imperative that the region accelerate all efforts towards the achievement of the SDGs and our development now,” he said.

With goal two of the SDGs focused on ending hunger, achieving food security and improved nutrition, Solomon expressed a desire for the relay of tangible and implementable actions to contribute to the region’s agenda on achieving these objective while reducing its import bill by 25 per cent by 2025.

The Caricom led ‘25 in 5’ initiative seeks to reduce the region’s almost US$6-billon food import bill by 25 per cent over a five-year period. The overall goal is to likewise reduce regional food imports by fostering accelerated and targeted investments in agriculture and food production and in the business ecosystem.

The policymaking body, in crafting the plan a few years ago, had noted that while there wasn’t an immediate shortage of food in the region, there was a “misalignment of supply and demand” as a result of supply chain disruptions. It said that since the Caribbean is highly dependent on food imports such as wheat, animal feeds and a range of processed foods, most of which are sourced from outside markets, countries needed to have plans in place to ensure the continued supply of key food items and to safeguard against serious challenges and imminent threats to food security.

Just last month findings from a joint survey done by Caricom and the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) revealed that an estimated 2.8 million people or nearly 40 per cent of the English-speaking Caribbean is food insecure — one million more than two years ago.

Senior trade facilitation officer at the International Trade Centre (ITC) Pierre Bonthonneau, who also presented at the CDB seminar which was attended by a wide cross section of global experts and participants, said that the Caribbean can impact its current food import metrics and the availability of affordable food for citizens by making trade formalities more effective while pursuing greater investments in technology-based initiatives and by embracing trade reforms and robust private-public dialogue and engagement.

“Easing trade in agri-foods will positively contribute the region’s vision to achieve at least five SDGs – zero hunger, gender equality, climate action, responsible consumption and production and life below water,” he told participants while stressing the need for solutions to revolve around regional coordination.

During the recently concluded AgroFest, Guyana’s President Dr Irfaan Ali made similar calls for greater collaboration and partnership across countries stating that, “the issue of food security for the region cannot be looked at from a border perspective because each one of us in this region, each country, comes with different challenges but each one of us can bring a unique opportunity in creating a solution.”