Food security has become an imperative part of sustainable development

Dear Editor,
Caribbean Governments have set an ambitious target to realise 25 percent reduction in their food import bill over the next five years (until 2025). Attracting partners who would be investing in the use of technological advancements and innovation in agricultural production and agro-processing would ensure that this target is achieved, and sustainable jobs are created in the region.
The Caribbean Export Development Agency will host the region’s first Agricultural Technology Investment Summit from October 5-7, 2021. This high-level event would feature a keynote address from His Excellency Dr Irfaan Ali.
Guyana holds lead responsibility for agriculture, agricultural diversification, and food security in Caricom. The intent here is to overhaul the Caribbean food system to make it cope with the pressing challenges of a climate crisis and diminished biodiversity and rising food insecurity. But many stakeholders would probably leave the table still hungry for change, among them smallholder farmers, Indigenous groups, and the Caribbean’s own Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food.
The Caribbean is one of the most food-insecure regions on our planet. COVID-19 has once more shown this acute vulnerability, and the imperative of boosting food security. Given our challenges, such as small size, technology is a valuable friend to our agricultural sector, as digital technologies are transforming the agricultural sector globally.
We in the Caribbean have no option but to embrace these new possibilities to give food security to our people. We would also reap the many attendant benefits, such as creating precious jobs, exports, boosting trade, and driving growth by creating new opportunities for Caribbean people.
Importantly, the Agricultural Technology Investment Summit must offer Caribbean Governments something substantive to tackle the devastating impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the food crisis that it triggered. The summit has to offer the Caribbean people something to help overcome their daily struggles to feed themselves and their families. We must do better for our people.
The Caribbean is blessed with great economic potential and growth opportunities, and is widely recognised for its tourism prowess and historical trade in agricultural produce. However, as the region faces a burgeoning food import bill, heightened concerns regarding non-communicable diseases, exposure to the vagaries of weather due to climate change and natural disasters, food security has become an imperative part of sustainable development.
The Caribbean Agri-Tech Investment Summit will showcase opportunities for agricultural technology companies in the Caribbean and globally to invest. The event will feature agri-tech success stories, and provide information on the business environment in the Caribbean, and the support mechanisms available to potential investors interested in exploring the region as an agri-tech investment destination.
Agri-tech can bring practical and transformative solutions to the Caribbean agri-food sector. It can bring greater efficiency, traceability, and quality at all stages of the value chain, from production to processing and marketing.

Sincerely,
David Adams