President Irfaan Ali has lamented that Hurricane Beryl has dealt a significant blow to CARICOM’s ambitious plan to reduce its food import bill by 25% by 2025.
In a statement on Sunday, Ali, who is presently CARICOM Chairman and oversees agriculture and food security for regional body, reflected on the 2022 commitment made by CARICOM heads of government to substantially decrease the region’s dependence on food imports. This goal was to be achieved through the implementation of the CARICOM Agri-Food Systems Strategy, which focuses on boosting production of crops and products that are heavily imported in the region.
CARICOM’s Ministerial Taskforce on Agriculture will meet early this week to formulate a comprehensive action plan, aimed at rebuilding the region’s agricultural sector, following the devastating Hurricane Beryl which affected several Caribbean countries.
Hurricane Beryl, which intensified to a category five storm, made landfall on Grenada’s Carriacou Island before moving through several other Caribbean islands. The hurricane caused extensive damage, particularly to agricultural infrastructure, severely impacting Grenada, St. Vincent & the Grenadines, St. Lucia, Jamaica, and Barbados. Ali noted that these countries had been making significant progress in their agricultural sectors and were on track to meet the 2025 goal before the hurricane struck.
“The initial assessment is heart-wrenching,” Ali stated, highlighting the substantial investments made in the agricultural sector since 2020. These investments included improvements in infrastructure, water systems, technology, crop variety, farm support, and farm-to-market infrastructure. “Many of these countries would have lost all of this investment,” he added.
Ali expressed concern not only about the immediate damage costs but also about the long-term investment required to rebuild infrastructure and recapitalize farmers.
“The quick fix now is to get more immediate food in… I have asked the chair of the ministerial taskforce to convene his strategic meeting in the new week to include IICA and the Brazilian government to look at how we are going to rebuild, look at some quick yielding variety that we can introduce so that we can get some earning back as quickly as possible to the farmers…Varieties that might be able to withstand greater winds in the future,” Ali said.
Despite this setback, Ali outlined plans to assist the affected islands. These include mobilizing regional resources to help governments and farmers rebuild their agricultural sectors. He mentioned that he has already shared some initial ideas with colleagues and the chair of the Ministerial Task Force for agriculture.
The Guyanese president also plans to reach out to international organizations such as the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the European Commission of Agriculture (ECA) for assistance in addressing the food security and agricultural challenges posed by Beryl.
“I’m deeply concerned and will be making the necessary calls… to help our farmers and to work with the region,” Ali said. He acknowledged that changes in methodology and approaches to food production would need to be considered in the rebuilding phase.
“Not only is the initial investment and cost of damages is concerning to me as lead-head of agriculture. It is also the long-term investment cost to rebuild the infrastructure and to find resources to recapitalise the farmers…As you know, most of the farmers and fisherfolk are not insured…A lot of the crops damaged are long-term crops,” he highlighted.
For example, most of the beaches in Barbados have been affected, causing a major blow to the island’s main revenue earner which is the tourism sector.
The island’s fisheries sector has been severely damaged, requiring tremendous investments in infrastructure, retooling, and assets for fisherfolk.
The president described the situation as ‘horrific’ in Grenada since the islands of Carriacou and Petite Martinique have had their permanent and cash crops, as well as livestock, completely destroyed.
Meanwhile, over 80 per cent of St Vincent and the Grenadines’ agriculture sector has been impacted, while the rural communities in Jamaica have suffered the most.
“I have already shared with some colleagues and also the chair of the ministerial taskforce of agriculture to see how we can quickly mobilise the necessary stakeholders and resources to address this tremendous setback that our 25 by 2025 action plan is being hit with by Beryl,” he underlined.
The president will be contacting the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) and other institutions to assist the farmers and the region.
As the Caribbean region grapples with the aftermath of Hurricane Beryl, the road to achieving the 25% reduction in food imports by 2025 has become significantly more challenging, requiring renewed efforts and international support. (extracted and edited from WIredJA)