President Ali’s agri plan a comprehensive one for food security – Caricom Chairman

…says Guyana’s presentation was highlight of Heads of Govt meeting

By Jarryl Bryan

President Dr Irfaan Ali’s presentation on sustainable food security and agriculture was described by Caribbean Community (Caricom) Chairman and Belize Prime Minister John Briceño as a comprehensive presentation that was one of the highlights of the 33rd Inter-Sessional Meeting.
During the final press conference on day two of the meeting, Briceño’s opening comments zeroed in on President Ali’s presentation, and he lauded the efforts of the Guyanese Head of State and team, which included Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha, the current Chairman of the Caricom Special Ministerial Task Force on Food Production and Food Security.

“We’ve come to the end of this 33rd Inter-Sessional Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government here in Belize… for sure, our deliberations have been enriched by our physical presence,” Briceño said.
“One of the highlights of the meeting was the important and stimulating presentations by President Ali of Guyana, who laid out a comprehensive plan for the development of the agri-food sector that was embraced by all. I congratulate President Ali and his team for their excellent work.”
According to Briceño, the study done by President Ali and his team served to show the challenges faced by different countries in the Region when it comes to food security, as well as the products each one could grow and supply, and a path towards sustainable food security. Among the findings was that countries outside of Caricom were the source for 98.8 per cent of poultry imports in the Region in 2020 – a needless diversion of regional finance.

“For instance, we import poultry. There’s no need for us to be importing poultry, or some of the greens, like corn. The different meats. All of that can be grown here in the Caribbean… one of the ideas that [Barbados] Prime Minister [Mia] Mottley brought up, which is about the industrialisation working group policy,” Briceño said.
“(This) is because there are a lot of products that we can grow, but we’re not adding value to them. As opposed to selling the raw programme,” he said, adding that Guyana’s study could be made available to all and that it foresaw a $6 billion food market in Caricom that, if captured, could create opportunities for member states.

Trade
Briceño was asked about the barriers to trade, particularly the trepidation that countries in the Region have for locally-grown products and a preference for foreign imported goods. Standards such as phytosanitary standards have repeatedly been used to block imports from countries in the Region, including Guyana. According to the Chairman, a commitment was made to increase trade integration among Caricom.
In addition, PM Mottley also praised President Ali for the efforts he has made to advance food security in the Region, from addressing trade barriers to crop insurance for farmers. This, she noted, is especially significant since this was all planned out during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mottley also noted that an investment conference would be rolled out in Guyana in May, which was a necessary prerequisite for advancing on many of the decisions coming out of the Heads of Government meeting.
These decisions include the whopping US$110 million financing for Caricom States with the aim of reducing food imports by 25 per cent by 2025. The Prime Minister was also hopeful that the Private Sector players themselves would step up to the plate.

“The investment conference carded for May 19 to May 21 in Georgetown, Guyana… this is a necessary prerequisite to us going forward, because, without money, we won’t have the ability to help the farmers. The money from Republic Bank is effectively being offered to Governments to help farmers. And in some instances, it will be State-led and, in some instances, it will be Private Sector-led,” she said.

Local content
Meanwhile, the Heads of Government were asked about local content and whether it was discussed during the meeting. This is particularly relevant in the context of the Caribbean Private Sector Organisation (CPSO) and the issues it has raised with Guyana’s Local Content Act passed last year. According to Mottley, this is an issue that will indeed be looked into.
“Within the context of Caricom Single Market and Economy, we placed before Heads and Heads accepted, that there is need for us to review the issue of local content. And there is an open-ended committee of member states that will start to work very shortly, recognising that new areas of economic activities, what we call sunrise industries, there may well be and I certainly support, that there is a case for some level of local content.”
“And the issue will be what that percentage of local content will be and what is the timeline it should be valid for. Because if you’re giving it to a sunrise industry, then you don’t need it 30 years from now,” she said.
According to the Prime Minister, once these discussions are had, they will be in a better position to make recommendations to the full Conference of Heads of Government. As she put it, if countries share the burden in hard times, then they must also share it in good times too.
“So, we’re going to do the discussions among ourselves, with a view towards recommending to the full Conference of Heads, what the appropriate framework should be, such that no one will be held in breach for wanting to do that which is most natural.
“Because if we accept that we share the burden in hard times, then we should share the burden in good times too. And that is what we understand with Guyana and all the other countries that want to introduce local content…”
President Ali was joined by Agriculture Minister Mustapha, Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Minister Hugh Todd, Foreign Secretary Robert Persaud, and other Government officials, during the two-day conference in Ambergris Caye, Belize.