More technology, mechanisation needed to boost food security – Ali

…says US$7.5B public-private investment needed to reach Caribbean targets

The issue of boosting food security is one that must be tackled from multiple angles, including through the increased use of technology and mechanisation, as well as public and private sector investment.
This was according to President Dr Irfaan Ali, during a recent Caribbean Association of the World Bank panel discussion. In addition to more technology and mechanisation to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) of zero hunger, the President pegged the public and private investment needed to reach the 25 by 2025 target, at US$7.5 billion.
“If we are to achieve the 25 by 2025 target in a very conservative way, the investment from the public and private sector needed would be about US$7.5 billion. That is the total investment. Now on a global scale, if we are to achieve in the timeframe the SDG Two, that is zero hunger, it means that productivity, not production, must increase by 28 per cent.”
“That productivity increase requires the use of technology. Requires mechanisation. We’re already seeing the difficulties in labour intensive agriculture and food production systems,” President Ali said.
In Guyana’s case, President Ali noted that the country has already been taking steps towards increasing its productivity while also collaborating on a regional and international scale. According to the President, the Region knows what medium- and long-term strategies it has to implement. He warned of the negative impact if others in the Region do not prioritise agriculture.
“We took a full analysis of every single country, looked at the competitive environment in every country and we sought to identify low hanging fruits, medium term strategies and long-term strategies… if you look at some of the recent headlines on food security in the Region, it’s a really a telling story,” President Ali said.
“It is important for us to know that if we don’t take action now — and we are taking action— and we don’t make the necessary adjustments in our budgetary allocation for agriculture and food production, and prioritise agriculture we are going to face a catastrophe in the Region.”
Among the initiatives being pioneered by Guyana is the development of the regional agri-tech campus. This project is being developed along with the Bangalore Bio Innovation Centre in India.
The BBC, according to its website, is a state-of-the-art translational research and entrepreneurship centre catering to all the needs of start-ups in life science located in the city of Bangalore, India. President Ali noted that the project will see technology and crop variety being developed that are catered for the Caribbean Region.
Last year, an agri-investment forum and expo was held in Guyana, a joint initiative between the Government and Caricom Secretariat. Government has also said it will be partnering with the private sector to establish a regional food hub.
Government’s focus on agriculture is down to the vision of making Guyana the bread basket of the Caribbean and reducing the regional food import bill. Last year, President Ali had declared that his Government would be pursuing an aggressive campaign to dismantle regional barriers to agricultural trade and that in the next four years, with the assistance of more diversified crops, Guyana would aim to reduce Caricom’s food import bill by 25 per cent.
It was reported in February that member states of the Caribbean Community (Caricom) have collectively achieved a significant 57 per cent of the target set to realise “Vision 25 by 2025”. This announcement was made during the first Caricom Ministerial Task Force (MTF) on Food Production and Food Security meeting for 2023. (G3)