Guyanese should adopt better diets, less food wastage – FAO

The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations has said that food systems in Guyana can be radically changed for the better by creating sustainable approaches.
Among these approaches is the need to ensure the availability of safe and nutritious food for all.
This, the organisation noted, entails the abundant production of fresh food and policies that promote better access to healthy, nutritious diets.
The FAO further added that this approach can have multiple positive impacts, particularly if targeted to vulnerable groups such as single female-headed households, Indigenous communities, rural dwellers, the elderly, the unemployed and under-employed, and persons living below or on the poverty line.
Further, the FAO highlighted that while issues of obesity, stunting and wasting, and occurrence of non-communicable disease in Guyana may be lower relative to many other countries, they still represent a significant toll in health costs and human suffering, and are directly related to what is eaten.
In addition, the organisation highlighted that a shift to more sustainable consumption patterns will help Guyana’s population to be more competitive and healthier. This includes better diets and less food wastage.
It added that optimising the use of natural resources in food production, processing, and distribution is vital to creating a successful and sustainable transformation of agriculture in Guyana and preserving natural resource wealth for future generations.
This, the FAO noted, is boosting nature-positive production.
Moreover, the FAO highlighted the need for more advanced equitable livelihoods. This means not only providing opportunities for decent employment but also incentivising rural living. This thematic area requires concrete and integrated actions to promote sustained opportunities to improve earnings, support equitable access to finances for farmers and agri-processors and reduce inequities in access to food – leaving no one behind.
The FAO further stated that what is needed is ambitious planning, cross-cutting solutions and decisive actions, cultural change, trust, investment and partnerships, all of which Guyana has in abundance, along with its natural resources.
Ultimately, building resilience to vulnerabilities, shocks and stress within the food system is key. The organisation in its statement said that COVID-19 has highlighted how vulnerable our food systems can be at the household, community, national and global level. However, we also see that strong, well organised, and inclusive production systems can not only weather shocks but also thrive. Resilient food systems in Guyana can withstand and recover from instabilities and deliver food security, nutrition and equitable livelihoods for Guyanese and the region.
Meanwhile, the FAO noted that the Global Food System Summit slated to be hosted later this year is timely to provide input into Guyana’s transformation agenda for its agriculture sector and its ambitious plans to remain an important economic driver in an emerging oil economy.