PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad – Caribbean Community (CARICOM) leaders will discuss a report on Wednesday on the region's progress towards cutting its multi-billion dollar food import bill by 25 percent by the year 2025.
President Irfaan Ali speaking to reporters at the end of the second day of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) summit in Trinidad and Tobago on Tuesday night (CMC Photo)Guyana’s President Dr. Irfaan Ali, who has lead responsibility for agriculture in the quasi-CARICOM Cabinet, Tuesday updated the regional leaders on the initiative during their ongoing 45th annual summit that ends later on Wednesday.
Ali told reporters that transportation, one of the main items to facilitate the movement of agricultural produce across the 15 member grouping “is still on the agenda for this meeting.
“Tomorrow the discussions are going to continue and transportation logistics is an important part of that,” he said.
But he said he was encouraged by the reaction from regional leaders to the initiative to significantly reduce the food import bill by 2025, adding “ I take the sentiment and commitment of all” even as he acknowledged “we are faced with many challenges.
“What we’ve seen is a very targeted approach by every country in achieving the 25 (percent) by 2025. Policy framework for food production and nutrition has definitely shifted in the right direction.
“Because more and more the budgetary allocation for agriculture, the type of focus on agriculture and food production is in line with what we want to occur in order for us to achieve 25 by 2025. More investment in the infrastructure to support food production,” he said.
“And we have just discussed what we need to work on….bringing to an end the barriers, non tariff barriers that exists within the region, especially in agriculture… movement of agricultural produce within the region.”
Ali told reporters that one of the challenges faced in the region, for example is within the poultry industry.
“I’ll give an example. The three main input for feed production, and 70 percent of chicken is the cost of feed. So the input for the feed is rice, soy, and corn. Rice from 2020, to now had a 100 percent increase per ton, corn a 65 percent increase per ton and soya had a 65 percent increase.
“So what has occurred is that globally, the cost of chicken from the start of this year is increased by 22.5 percent. We have a greater increase because transport and logistics costs also went up.
“So what do we do, we now have to ensure that we invest in the input ….(and) so by the time we get up to 2027, all the corn soya and race between Guyana, Suriname and those who can support the investment from the region will come from within the region,” Ali said.
He said also that the region has to produce in such a manner “that when the market has a glut, we have to have the storage capacity.
”So that when there’s deficit in supply and prices goes up, we have forward planning with storage facility. Right now, in terms of grains in the entire region, we can only store 20 percent of the grains that we need.
“So we have to get investment that will allow us to store 100 percent of the grains that we need so that we can do forward planning. And it can reduce the impact in terms of imbalance often have luck and shortages.”
On a matter of the ongoing situation where Guyana is unable to export honey to Trinidad and Tobago, President Ali hinted at some movement in that situation.
“We have discussed it with the government of Trinidad and Tobago, and they are right now examining this issue. So we have been assured that there’s examination of this issue in the right direction. I think we are heading in the right direction,” he said.
