The Caribbean Week of Agriculture 2021 was launched on 15 September 2021 during a ceremony that was held virtually.
The event featured a keynote address by Minister of Agriculture of Guyana, the Hon. Zulfikar Mustapha, and remarks by representatives of the organisations that are partnering to host the week of agricultural activities.
Listen to the ceremony:
(Department of Public Information) Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha said for agriculture to be effectively repositioned in the Caribbean, a number of actions must be taken.
The Minister was at the time addressing the Conference of Ministers of Agriculture of the Americas 2021 which was hosted by the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA).
The two-day conference saw Ministers of Agriculture from across the region meeting to discuss matters relating to improving agriculture relations across the Caribbean.
While presenting on behalf of the Caribbean region, Minister Mustapha said several actions must be taken to reposition agriculture in the Americas.
“Actions to reposition Caribbean agriculture must include strengthening linkages between the agri-food, tourism and health sectors, establishing public-private partnerships in local food production and processing, implementing climate-smart technologies, and transitioning towards digital agriculture. Therefore, financing for mitigation and adaptation to climate change is more critical today than ever before and is necessary to protect and transform Caribbean food systems,” Minister Mustapha said.
Minister Mustapha also said support from international institutions such as the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the World Food Programme (WFP), the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), international financial institutions, and bilateral partners will be critical to ensuring a more resilient agricultural sector and that an immediate priority for the Caribbean is the creation of a vulnerability fund.
Read more at: Department of Public Information
(Jamaica Information Service Press Release) Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, Hon. Floyd Green, says the Ministry will continue to partner with local and international stakeholders to transform Jamaica’s food systems in order to ensure food security.
“We are serious at the Ministry in working with our European Union (EU) and United Nations (UN) Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) partners and across sectors and the Government, to ensure that we reimagine agriculture and fisheries, that we reshape our food systems to make them more sustainable, more equitable, more inclusive especially for our youth and women, more resilient against environment challenges, and more efficient in developing value chains, which can maximise the returns to our rural families and truly transform rural communities,” he said.
Minister Green was addressing Tuesday’s (September 7) opening ceremony for the virtual workshop on ‘Catalysing the Sustainable and Inclusive Transformation of Food Systems’ in Jamaica.
The food system incorporates all processes and infrastructure involved in feeding a population from growing to harvesting, processing, packaging, transporting, marketing, consumption, distribution and disposal of food and food-related items.
Read more at: Jamaica Information Service
The cultivation of Irish Potato has been on the rise in Dominica. The Government of Dominica continues to support the production of the crop as a means of boosting food security and as part of the country’s resilience strategy. Presently, the crop is mainly cultivated by small farmers across several agro-ecological zones with minimal use of agro-chemicals.
For the 2020/2021 growing season (November 2020 – March 2021), CARDI assessed the production and productivity of the Desiree variety across the country. This variety is resistant to drought and potato virus, bulks early and gives good yields.
For the cropping cycle, 57,099 lbs of seed tubers were planted by 126 farmers at an estimated rate of 17,153 tubers per acre. Yield data from four farms across agro-ecological zones showed that the average number of tubers per plant was 8 with an average weight of 0.2 lbs per tuber. Estimated average yield per acre was 27,444 lbs and national production was 526,941 lbs with 458,439 lbs being marketable.
The estimated yield per acre for the 2020/2021 crop cycle showed a dramatic increase of 240% when compared with the national average on record for the 2013/2014 cropping season.
Cost of production data collected showed an average gross profit of approximately 44%. According to Dorian Etienne, CARDI Country Representative, factors such as suitable variety, favorable climatic conditions and low disease incidence and severity could account for what can be described as a bumper crop. Potato is easy to grow making it particularly attractive to women farmers. Like in previous years, the Dominica Export Import Agency (DEXIA) will bulk-purchase a large volume of the white potatoes produced by the farmers and in turn sell it to local retailers.
The current food system makes ‘ultra-processed’ foods readily accessible, appealing and affordable, displacing more nutritious foods. Expanding the non-traditional agricultural sub-sector is therefore, critical for diet diversification and enabling equality in availability and access, especially for rural populations.” – Minister of Agriculture of Guyana, Zulfikar Mustapha
(Department of Public Information Press Release) Guyana’s Minister of Agriculture, Zulfikar Mustapha, MP, says in order for countries to ensure safe and nutritious foods remain accessible, food availability, access, utilisation, and stability must be addressed holistically.
The Minister made this statement on Wednesday when he joined Ministers of Agriculture and other officials from around the world in a Pre-Summit for the United Nations Food Systems Summit.
Over 50 countries participated in the Pre-Summit, which was held virtually due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
In his remarks, Minister Mustapha said: “The current food system makes ‘ultra-processed’ foods readily accessible, appealing and affordable, displacing more nutritious foods. Expanding the non-traditional agricultural sub-sector is therefore, critical for diet diversification and enabling equality in availability and access, especially for rural populations.
Further, of growing concern is the need to reduce on-farm and post-harvest food loss and waste through adopting appropriate harvesting, post-harvest, and storage technologies.”
Following the onset of the pandemic, greater emphasis has been placed on building Guyana’s resilience to vulnerabilities, shocks, and stresses. Minister Mustapha told the meeting that systems are being put in place to confront those threats, safeguarding the livelihood of farmers and fishers in the country.
“COVID 19 pandemic has exposed the vulnerability of our food production and distribution systems and exacerbated other challenges such as climate change.
Guyana must confront these threats to the livelihood of farmers and fishers by making its food systems more climate-resilient,” Minister Mustapha said.
CARICOM’s Position
Guyana holds lead responsibility for Agriculture, Agricultural Diversification, and Food Security in the Caribbean Community (CARICOM).
The Caribbean Region is amongst the most vulnerable to natural disasters and climate change impacts and has been identified as the second most hazard-prone Region in the world.
Just recently, economies and food systems were impacted by the eruption of a volcano in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, affecting Barbados and other neighbouring islands. Hurricanes left wind and flood damage in Barbados and other islands in the Eastern Caribbean, and Guyana and Suriname experienced unprecedented flooding that resulted in tremendous loss of crops and livestock.
“Actions to reposition Caribbean agriculture include strengthening linkages between the agri-food, tourism, and health sectors; establishing public-private partnerships in local food production and processing; implementing climate-smart technologies and transitioning towards digital agriculture.
Financing for mitigation and adaptation to climate change has become more critical today than ever before and is necessary to protect and transform Caribbean food systems. International support from international financial institutions, and bilateral partners will be critical to ensuring a more resilient agricultural sector through financing, technology, and creating an enabling global environment,” Minister Mustapha said.
The Pre-Summit of the UN Food Systems Summit has served as the preparatory meeting for the culminating global event which is scheduled for September 2021. It aims to bring together diverse actors from around the world to leverage the power of food systems to deliver progress on all 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the shared vision for people, planet, and prosperity.
It will consolidate all of the substantive work of the Summit into a common vision and set a tone of bold ambition and commitment to action. The Pre-Summit will deliver the latest evidence based and scientific approaches from around the world; strengthen coalitions of action; and mobilise new financing and partnerships. Through the Pre-Summit, the UN Food Systems Summit will reaffirm its commitment to promote human rights for all and ensure everyone, everywhere has the opportunity to participate. The event is open to all, with a small in-person component in the context of COVID-19, complemented by a vast virtual programme and platform.
The FAO Director-General stressed how at this “critical moment in time” the world faces “the historic task” to transform the agri-food systems and put back on track the achievement of the SDGs.
(Food and Agriculture Organisation Press Release 26 July 2021, Rome) – A holistic and coordinated approach is urgently needed to transform agri-food systems and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030. This was the call made by the QU Dongyu, Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) to world leaders participating in the opening today of the Pre-Summit of the UN Food Systems Summit.
“Our agri-food systems are not delivering properly, and in many parts of the world these systems were not efficient, inclusive and sustainable,” Qu said, noting that the COVID-19 pandemic has aggravated the situation.
According to a report issued this month by FAO and its partners, around a tenth of the global population – up to 811 million people – were undernourished last year. The number suggests it will take a tremendous effort for the world to honour its pledge to end hunger by 2030.
The FAO Director-General stressed how at this “critical moment in time” the world faces “the historic task” to transform the agri-food systems and put back on track the achievement of the SDGs.
“To achieve this ambitious transformation; we need to change policies, mind-sets, and business models,” he told participants at the Pre-Summit opening ceremony that saw the participation of dozens of heads of state and government, ministers and other high-level representatives, some present in person while others connected by video.
Speakers included Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, – the UN and the Government of Italy are the Pre-Summit co-hosts – the President of Rwanda and Chair of the African Union Development Agency Paul Kagame and, representing Pope Francis, Archbishop Paul Gallagher the Holy See’s Secretary for Relations with States.
Read more at: Food and Agriculture Organisation
The summit idea was launched in 2019 months before the coronavirus emerged, but Italian Premier Mario Draghi said the pandemic made existing threats to food security more urgent.
ROME (AP) — Pope Francis on Monday decried as criminal the existence of hunger in a world which can produce enough food for all, building on a warning from the chief of the United Nations that climate change and conflict are both a consequence and a driver of poverty and income inequality.
Earlier in the day, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told a meeting in Rome via video message that the world’s food system generates a third of all greenhouse gas emissions. That same system is responsible for as much as 80% of biodiversity loss, he lamented in a video message.
The gathering was called to help prepare for a U.N. food systems summit to be held in September in New York.
In a written message that was read to meeting participants, Francis said the coronavirus pandemic has “confronted us with the systemic injustices that undermine our unity as a human family.”
Read more at: Associated Press
Prioritising farmers, producing quality food and buying local, continuous and earlier exposure to agricultural science, and serious investment, are among the prerequisites for food security for the Caribbean Community (CARICOM).
Those areas, as well as the reduction of the Region’s high food import bill, were highlighted during a virtual CARICOM Regional Food Systems Dialogue held on 28 May 2021. Farmers and farming organisations, policymakers, representatives of youth, women, the business community, civil society and the health sector, were among the participants at the four-hour event that was held to streamline regional positions ahead of the United Nations 2021 Food Systems Summit scheduled for September.
The CARICOM Secretariat organised the forum in partnership with the United Nations Resident Coordinators, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the World Food Programme (WFP), and the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA). Ideas, solutions, and action plans emanating from the Dialogue will feed into the, as well as a pre-Summit event scheduled for July in Rome. Thematic areas under discussion were food security, climate resilience and finance and funding.
Transforming the Region’s food systems will be the focus of the Caribbean Week of Agriculture which will be held 4-8 October 2021. The focus reflects the acknowledgement of the peculiar challenges and opportunities which are now confronting the Region’s agricultural sector and which require a decisive solution-oriented response in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Read more at: CARICOM Today
(InterPress Service) Before the COVID-19 pandemic upended every sphere of life, the world was lagging on a goal to end hunger by 2030. According to the United Nations, more than 820 million people had already been categorised as food insecure, meaning they lacked access to reliable and sufficient amounts of affordable, healthy food.
The impact of measures to contain the virus, land degradation, climate change and the global extreme poverty rate rising for the first time in over 20 years, make the need for a transition to sustainable food systems more important than ever.
The United Nations Food Systems Summit hopes to bring together the science, finance and political commitment to transform global food systems. The goal is to introduce systems that are productive, environmentally sustainable, include the poor and promote healthy diets.
The Barilla Centre For Food and Nutrition (BCFN) Foundation, a longstanding investor in research, education and high-level events on sustainable food systems has been actively involved in activities in the lead-up to the summit.
IPS interviewed the think tank’s Head of Research Dr Marta Antonelli and dietician Katarzyna Dembska about climate change and diets, successful food systems and the Foundation’s own initiatives to improve education, science and skills for healthy, fair and sustainable food systems.
Read more at: InterPress Service
Caribbean Week of Agriculture will be held 4-8 October this year.
Activities during the premier event on the Region’s agriculture calendar will focus on the theme ‘Transforming our food systems’.
The week of activities will be done virtually this year as the region continues to be affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. CWA was last held in 2018 in Bridgetown, Barbados.
Preparations are underway for holding the events that will include a marketplace, statutory meetings of regional agriculture organisations, and a Meeting of the Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED). There will also be webinars which will place the spotlight on creating resilience in the sector; rebounding from the pandemic; food security; climate change and enhancing intra-regional trade.