Caricom will go “extra-regional” if private sector sits on opportunities – Ali

…says there is potential to fix logistics to aid food security agenda

If the regional private sector fails to act on the windfall of opportunities currently birthed from Caricom’s aggressive food security agenda, then Governments will be forced to look to foreigners to take up these prospects.
This was the position shared by President Dr Irfaan Ali on Friday, during the second edition of the Agri Investment Forum and Expo, currently hosted in Trinidad and Tobago.
The Guyanese President declared that the political will has already been established in achieving food security and sustainability for the region. This is the time for the private sector to capitalise on investments, such as logistics, transportation and infrastructure to support the food security agenda.
“We have to fix the institutions, the infrastructure. A lot of work is going on and this is where I want the regional private sector to understand what an opportunity is. In my humble opinion, we have enough firepower in this region within the private sector to form a consortium and address the issue of transportation and fixing that problem…The leaders have already made it very clear. We are willing to sit with such a consortium and come up with a menu of measures and incentives that will allow you the space to operate in a very viable manner and fixing the transport and logistics problem,” Ali underscored.
He relayed that Governments are creating the enabling environment for investments. But should the private sector fail to capitalise, then leaders will seek assistance from outside the region.
“We cannot sit back in the private sector and expect that the Government must create the environment all the time. The Government is an enabler to open up the opportunity. We have to stop working in a selfish way in the region at every level. The private needs to come together and understand the scale of opportunities, scale their thinking up and go after the opportunities. If not, then you give the heads no other choice but to go extra-regional.”
In the region, food disruption is among the growing trends, meaning that persons are unable to access the required nutrition. Moreover, nearly half of the region’s population suffer from food insecurity.
Nevertheless, Dr Ali underscored that strides have been made through the regional ministerial task force of achieving regional food security and driving a robust agricultural agenda. The Head of State relayed that Governments have taken the position to move forward with stakeholders who are on board with this agenda.
“It is no longer talking about what can be done. it is doing what we have been talking about for a very long time. The new approach is a different mindset, a different way of thinking. The Heads of Government have agreed that if we are not all ready to move, then we must move with those who are ready. The time has come for us to demonstrate tangible results as we seek to create an environment in this region, in which we are not only food secure but we develop a sustainable and resilient path to food security.”
Together, Caricom is working on the goal of cutting the food import bill by 25 per cent by 2025. Ali identified that having the specific target to slash the food import bill speaks to the seriousness in which Governments are applying themselves within the region to fulfil this goal.
“We understand the reality. We live in a quite different world than a year or two years ago. We live in a world in which climate crisis, energy crisis, inflation crisis, food security crisis confront us. And we live in a world with a very impatient population. As a region, we have communicated the global story and how the global challenges impact the lives of people in our region,” he underlined.

Progress
Guyana has established a food terminal in Barbados and similar discussions have been ongoing with Antigua, Jamaica, St Lucia, Trinidad and Tobago and other nations in the region.
The aim is to ensure that by 2024, the country is completely sufficient in feed production using corn and soya. There is a performance mark of 61 per cent in poultry and an overall 80 per cent for livestock.
As of March of this year, Jamaica has achieved 26 per cent of their target, with solid performances in onion and Irish potatoes. Trinidad has seen success in poultry, with 66,500 metric tonnes completed from an 83,000 metric tonnes target by June. In St Lucia, fresh fruit, poultry and pork production has surpassed targets as of mid-2022.
Before the end of this year, Barbados’ aquaculture sector will commence production.
With this urgency, he questioned whether the people in these countries understand the consequences of this global challenge. Ali added that in achieving this goal, leaders will be pressured with burning issues as a result of global consequences.
“There will be pressures in achieving the target of 25 by 2025. Every leader that sit before you, we have to deal with the imported inflation, rising cost of food, climate challenges, debt crisis and at the same time, we have to find the resources that are necessary for us to achieve these targets…We will have to make sacrifices collectively in different areas if we are to achieve the target that we set ourselves.” (G12)