Caricom Deputy SG lauds Guyana’s leadership in food security

– urges stakeholders to confront challenges head-on to achieve “25 by 2025” initiative

Guyana and President Dr Irfaan Ali have come in for high praise from the Caribbean Community (Caricom) for leading the charge in food security by Caricom’s Deputy Secretary General, Dr Armstrong Alexis.
Guyana currently leads the Agriculture, Agricultural Diversification and Food Security in the Caricom, with Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha being the Chairman of the regional task force on food security.
Dr Alexis during his presentation at the launch of the Agri Investment Forum and Expo at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre, praised the work Guyana has done in the sector.

“On behalf of the Community, I express appreciation to His Excellency Irfaan Ali, the lead head of agriculture and agricultural diversification, food security in the Caricom quasi cabinet, for his sterling leadership and commitment to the sector and to the food and nutrition security of the Region. With these achievements as a backdrop, we are confident that this event will respond to the needs of our Region while contributing to the transformation of the agri-investment sector,” he said.
Meanwhile, Dr Alexis made a few proposals at the opening of the expo including an intervention project to deal with unhealthy diets throughout the Region.
And with the record-breaking temperatures this year in mind, Dr Alexis also challenged the private sector to come up with technological solutions to help persons deal with the heat. He noted the important role the expo can play in fostering these kinds of discussions, as well as building on the foundation laid by last year’s agri expo.
“This engagement allows us to build on the successes of previous expos held last year in Guyana and Trinidad, which set the stage for some remarkable achievements over the past year,” Dr Alexis said.
“These include increased cross-border investments, identification of possible agricultural insurance products for farmers, adoption of new game-changing regional agricultural policies, increased budgetary allocation for the agriculture sector in almost every Caricom member state, and establishment of the Youth in Agriculture Advisory Council.”
Notwithstanding the achievements that have been made, however, Dr Alexis also noted that challenges persist and remain to be surmounted in the fight to achieve the ‘25 by 2025’ objectives.

“The effects of climate change, technological advancements, a growing population, and the ongoing shift in demand from the type of food the Region consumes. These are factors we must continue to tackle head-on, with the full participation of all stakeholders,” the Deputy Secretary General said.
“We also need to consider the peculiarities that have long characterised the market of our Region’s agriculture sector. This includes market distortions… also from time to time, our regional producers must compete in a marketplace where international producers price their offerings below the cost of production.”
According to him, this results in farmers being unable to compete against these international producers. He made it clear that more emphasis is needed on helping farmers transition to value-added production.
At the 32nd Inter-Sessional Conference of the Caricom Heads of Government in 2021, a special ministerial task force was established and tasked with guiding the transformation of the regional agri-food system towards full commercialisation. A prime focus was to address the rising food import bill and to stimulate investment in agriculture and food production.
Guyana is presently the lead in agriculture and food security in the Caricom bloc. This is reflected in its transformative projects in priority commodities such as corn and soya bean – becoming one of the largest agricultural investments in the Region by 2026 with US$40 million invested.
Wheat production trials have commenced, along with the resuscitation of the cocoa and coffee industries. Guyana is also making strides in brackish water shrimp, black belly sheep rearing, new rice varieties, new broiler facility to hatch eggs, among other successes.
As of 2022, the Region achieved 57 percent of the production target towards reducing the food import bill by 2025. Over the next two years, President Ali has asserted that more than 1.4 metric tonnes of commodities must be produced to achieve this target. (G-3)