Guyana’s contributions to food security unparalleled in Caribbean – UN General Assembly President

…hails progress being made locally in achieving ‘25 by 2025’

The advances being made in Guyana towards achieving food security and the Caribbean Community (Caricom) ‘25 by 2025’ vision, have been hailed by President of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), Dennis Francis, who has touted Guyana’s unparalleled contributions to food security in the region.
Francis made these remarks during his visit to Guyana, following a tour of the National Agriculture and Research Institute (NAREI) alongside with Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha and other top officials. Francis had also met with President Dr. Irfaan Ali and Finance Minister, Dr. Ashni Singh, during which agriculture was one of the topics discussed.

“We discussed the Caricom policy of 25 by 25, whereby 25 per cent of Caricom’s food import bill should be replaced by food grown in this region, with Guyana acting, so to speak, as the food basket given the expanses of land available in Guyana. A parallel of which exists nowhere else in the Caribbean,” Francis said, during a press conference on Saturday.
“So, working together, Caricom countries in conjunction with Guyana to boost food production in this region, as a means of dealing with regional food insecurity. You all should be aware that global food insecurity is a major issue.”
Reeling off the statistics, Francis noted that as a consequence of wars, global food supply chains have been disrupted. This has resulted in food prices escalating all over the world. At present, he explained, there are 900 million who suffer from acute food insecurity, with millions more who are food insecure.
The UNGA president also lauded the role Guyana is playing in being the agent of change in the region and leading the advancements in technology and agriculture techniques. He noted that agriculture has been revolutionised, so that it differs greatly from the agriculture of old.
“I visited NAREI this (Saturday) morning. And I was very impressed, to see the work being done there by the Minister and his team. Cutting edge research, making a quantum leap in terms of food production in the Caribbean, in Guyana, that will bring about the replacement of food imports from all over the world.”
“And much of it, being driven, by young people. Who are now being attracted into agriculture. Because they understand it’s a change. A career in agriculture is not necessarily what it was, for their grandparents,” he explained.

Agri advances
From mechanisation to other innovative practices, Francis observed that youths have many options to choose from and be able to make a lucrative living from the agriculture sector. Then there is the aspect of value-added production, something the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Government has been piloting.
“Because as you add value up the chain, you can charge higher prices. So rather than exporting it as fresh produce, maybe if you process it and can it, you add value. All very encouraging developments. I was very pleased and impressed with what I saw this morning. And I want to commend the Government and people of Guyana and encourage them.”
“This region hemorrhages a lot of scarce foreign exchange, financing the importation of food. And that foreign exchange can be used for other, important things that we need to spend money on in this region,” Francis said.
It was recently revealed at the 47th Caricom Heads of Government Meeting that CARICOM States collectively reduced their food imports by 12 per cent in the first quarter of this year. Overall, as much as 30 per cent of the targets set for food security have also been achieved.
Other agricultural-related achievements were taken note of during the meeting, including the development of a Regional Youth in Agriculture Strategy and the launch of the Regional Economic Agri-Insurance Programme (REAP) on July 26, 2024. These were recognised as positive steps towards building resilience and production.
Only recently, the Government launched a programme that would see 100 acres of land being offered to young people who have either completed studies or are currently pursuing studies at the University of Guyana (UG) and the Guyana School of Agriculture (GSA) to work on farmsteads and develop agri-based businesses.
Not long after this announcement, President Ali had also signalled the impending launch of a bold homestead agriculture programme that would see single mothers being provided with low-income homes that will come with permanent crops and shade houses, maximising their earning potential and aiding Guyana’s food security agenda.
Guyana is currently chairing the Caricom Ministerial Task Force on Food Production and Food Security. Vision 25 by 2025 aims for the Caribbean to achieve a 25 per cent reduction in the Region’s food import bill by 2025. Owing to the Region’s dependency on imported foods, it faces hardships when disruptions to the supply chain occur. (G3)