GEORGETOWN, Guyana (CMC) – Caribbean Community (Caricom) countries have been able to achieve 57 per cent of the target to reduce the US$5 billion regional food import bill by 25 per cent by 2025.

A statement issued following the first Caricom Ministerial Taskforce (MTF) on Food Production and Food Security where Caribbean countries detailed their production data for 2022 noted that products such as cocoa, dairy, meat, root crops, fruits, and poultry have already reached 96.13 per cent, 84.36 per cent, 72.28 per cent, 70.91 per cent, 70.77 per cent, and 70.19 per cent respectively for the targeted production volume set for the year 2025.

“Moreover, countries such as Guyana, Belize Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, Dominica, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Dominica, and Jamaica have made significant advances in the production of commodities such as ginger, turmeric, corn, soya bean, root crops, fruits, cocoa, poultry, meat, fish, table eggs, and dairy,” the statement noted.

During last month’s special meeting of the Council for Trade and Economic Development Trade Policies for Animal and animal Products, a Regional Agricultural Health and Food Safety Policy, Special Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) guidelines for 19 commodities and alternative SPS settlement mechanisms were approved.

Guyana’s Agriculture Minister, Zulfikar Mustapha, noted that these are great achievements for the Taskforce, explaining that with these mechanisms in place, a level playing field is being created making way for easier trade in agricultural products, intra-regionally.

“These four achievements are testimony to the hard work of the MTF. If we are allowed to increase intra-regional trade, we will be well on the way to reducing the regional food import bill which is the ultimate goal of Caricom in keeping with its food security agenda. In just one-year, collaborative efforts among member states have yielded much success,” Mustapha said.

Mustapha, who chairs the MTF, said that several priority areas have been identified for 2023, including agriculture insurance and financing, trade and E-agriculture, resource mobilisation, and trade support. He said this will help to advance the efforts of the MTF and Caricom as it works towards achieving ‘Vision 25 by 2025’.

The next Caricom MTF meeting is scheduled for March.