Too much talk and less action

By Jainarine Deonauth

Agriculture and agriculture-related issues continue to dominate discussions at the national, regional and international levels. At the just concluded Caricom Heads of Government Meeting in St Lucia, Guyana’s President Donald Ramotar lamented his concerns and disappointment that the region’s leaders seem not to be taking the issue of food security too seriously. At least it doesn’t look that way as there is more ‘talk’ rather action.
I believe that it was very necessary that Mr Ramotar raised the issue once again in order to keep it on the front burner considering the fact that the region’s food import bill is likely to reach over US$4 billion annually. If urgent action is not taken; this does not look as if it will change anytime soon. The fact is; we are importing most of what we can grow ourselves and this should not be.
In 2002, former president Bharrat Jagdeo who had lead responsibility for Agriculture in the Caricom quasi cabinet, had sought assistance from the Food and Agriculture Organisation and the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture to boost the region’s efforts in ensuring it is food secure. One year after he proposed that the region build on its past efforts to develop a common agricultural policy, and requested that the Inter-American Institute of Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) and the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) support the Caricom Secretariat in developing a framework for repositioning agriculture in the region.
In underlining the problems that the agricultural sector faces, Jagdeo had stressed that in the changing global environment, the sector was neither providing for food security nor earning the foreign exchange needed to cover the region’s growing food import bill. What we know for sure is that the more than three billion dollars that leave our region every year could be put to productive use aimed at improving the lives of our people.
In addition, at the Caricom Heads of Government conference in Grand Anse, Grenada, Mr Jagdeo had presented a paper titled “A Framework for the Repositioning of Caribbean Agriculture”. In that framework, he stressed the need for a regional policy and strategy for strengthening food security and alleviating poverty, and in January 2005, the president’s proposal was formally dubbed the “Jagdeo Initiative” with the theme “Strengthening Agriculture for Sustainable Development”
The declining role of agriculture in the region, the continuing loss of preferential markets for the region’s traditional products and the rapidly increasing extra-regional food import bill are among the serious and challenging issues highlighted in the Initiative. After all these interventions, it is not clear what concrete actions (if any) were taken since then to strengthen the region’s agriculture sector and to bring it to a level envisaged in the “Jagdeo Initiative”.
The perception is that there is much ‘paper work’ done despite the fact that almost at every meeting that deals with agriculture, officials lament the cost of rising food prices, and the difficulties the region faces. It is therefore left to wonder when will our leaders “walk the talk” on agriculture by doing what is necessary in order to ensure food security.
It is still not too late. Regional Governments would need to show by their actions that they are willing to go beyond the rhetoric. Guyana has come a far way and even though it’s ‘a work in progress’ we can safely say that tremendous efforts were made to ensure the country produces enough to meet the demands of its citizens.
As we are presently doing, others countries would need to organize themselves and their individual farming sectors and encourage young persons to embrace new technologies and to see farming and agriculture as a business.
By doing so the region would not only be ensuring there is enough food to satisfy the demands of people, but the surplus of what is produced could be exported. And surely this can be achieved if more impetus is given to the regional agricultural transformation programme which, through the “Jagdeo Initiative” would encourage production and productivity, strengthen competitiveness and secure better market access for our produce.