Looming food crisis could take toll on Caricom – Jagdeo

As the Caribbean braces itself for an impending global food crisis, Guyana’s president Bharrat Jagdeo, acknowledged that efforts on the part of many Caricom member states to adopt a regional agricultural strategy have waned.

As such, Jagdeo, who has lead responsibility for agriculture in the Caricom quasi Cabinet believes the significant impact of this looming crisis is inevitable on those states.  It is still his opinion that the region should pay more attention to agriculture, which is why in 2002 he proposed to a Caribbean Heads of Government Conference that the region should build on its past efforts to develop a common agricultural policy (CAP). 

In January 2005, President Jagdeo unveiled a proposal formally dubbed the “Jagdeo Initiative” aimed at strengthening agriculture for sustainable development.

He reminded reporters at a news conference recently that this strategy seeks to remove the constraints to agriculture, shift the focus from subsistence to agro-businesses, ensuring food security and becoming more internationally competitive. But implementing such a policy requires application, Jagdeo believes. 

The president lamented that many of the countries do not invest enough in their agriculture sectors as is reflected in their annual budgetary allocation, pointing out that some budget more money for tourism and other sectors. “Clearly you can have a regional strategy; a regional approach but many countries may not implement them and unfortunately this is the situation we find ourselves in,” Jagdeo noted. 

In the height of the 2007/8 global food crisis Regional governments had shown an interest in the initiative once again. But this faded when prices were restored to normalcy.

 On the local scene 

In Guyana, Jagdeo boasts of growing production levels in all areas of the agriculture sector, placing the country a cut above the rest in the region as government examines efforts nonetheless to cushion any possible effects this might have on locals. “We are trying to cushion the impact and on the other hand creating opportunities for our farmers,” he pointed out. “People will still be affected.” 

The head of state revealed that the cost of living adjustments were given after the last food crisis was built into the salaries of public servants. Prominent among this was the Gy$4,000 per month that was paid to government employees earning a basic salary of Gy$50,000 and below. 

There was also the launch of the “Grow More Food” campaign aimed at encouraging farmers, producers in fisheries and livestock, investors and potential investors to increase food production to meet local and international demands.