IICA awards President Ali for leadership in food security

President Dr Irfaan Ali has been awarded for his Leadership in Food Security and Sustainable Development during the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) Conference in San Jose, Costa Rica.
The Head of State was joined for the inaugural opening on Tuesday by the President of Costa Rica, Rodrigo Chaves, and the President of Panama, Laurentino Cortizo where he was honoured for his contributions to the sector.
In announcing the prestigious award this year, IICA said the decision to award President Ali is in recognition of his leadership in agricultural transformation, food security, and support for building resilient economies in a sustainable manner in Guyana and the Caribbean.
IICA had said in its announcement that the President’s support and commitment to public agendas related to issues such as regional integration, rural connectivity, social inclusion in the countryside, and gender equality, all of which are central areas of IICA’s work, were also considered for the presentation of this award.
The Guyanese Head of State is the institute’s first awardee in this category. The Institute provides cooperation services through close and permanent work with its 34 Member States, including countries in South America, Central America, and the Caribbean.
The President was also joined by Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha and Advisor to Caricom on Agri-Food System, Dr Richard Blair.
As the lead for agriculture in Caricom, the Guyanese Head of State has been on an aggressive drive to ensure that the sector is taken seriously, and countries work towards reducing their dependency on imported food and goods.
Vision 25 by 2025 was conceptualised by President Ali for a 25 per cent reduction in the Region’s food import bill by the year 2025. Owing to the Region’s dependency on imported foods, it faces hardships when disruptions occur. And in light of this, the intention was to formulate a sense of food stability and security.
He has lobbied for agricultural experts to formulate implementable actions such as resilient food production systems, trade solutions, online platforms, financial flows, transportation solutions, youth and women involvement, product development, and innovative funding.
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, the Guyanese leader asserted that more than 1.4 metric tonnes of commodities must be produced to achieve this target.
The Region has seen successes with this agenda, with US$100 million in support coming from the United States Government.
A spice development programme has been launched in Jamaica; a national shade house project and cattle farm in Trinidad and Tobago; increased agricultural production in St Lucia and Dominica; a new tissue lab and phytosanitary legislation adoption in Barbados; 75,000 hectares of land for large-scale agricultural projects in Suriname.
Guyana is 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.
At the 32nd Inter-Sessional Conference of the Caricom Heads of Government, 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.
By the 33rd Inter-Sessional Conference, President Ali had presented a detailed plan for commercialising the agri-food sector while reducing the food import bill by 25 per cent by 2025. Emphasis was placed on countries and their respective target areas. The Heads of State had also agreed on an agricultural forum and expo, cementing a platform for investment in the regional agriculture sector.
In January 2023, President Ali was also conferred in India with the prestigious Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award, which recognises the stellar contributions of the Indian diaspora around the world. He was recognised for his outstanding contribution to politics and community welfare.