Preparations continue for the launch of the first ever regional food hub here in Guyana, which according to President Dr Irfaan Ali has the support of other countries in the region including Trinidad and Tobago and Barbados.
During a Caribbean Association of the World Bank panel discussion, the Head of State spoke about the creation of a regional food hub. The first of its kind, the president said that a number of initiatives are being advanced to create this hub.
“Right now, we are focusing on the preparations for the launch of the first regional food hub here in Guyana, that will be linked to Barbados, because we have decided that we’re going to work aggressively with those who are ready to push forward.”
“The leaders have addressed this. So, Barbados, St. Vincent, Trinidad and Tobago, we’re working on many different initiatives, to see how we can advance this agenda in a very rapid way,” President Ali said.
It was pointed out during the panel discussion by St. Vincent and the Grenadines Finance Minister Camillo Gonsalves that Guyana has the largest available swathe of arable land for agricultural purposes in the Caribbean. And with Brazil already an agriculture power-house, Gonsalves was adamant that the Caribbean must reorient its trade networks in that direction.
President Ali also noted that the region has a problem in terms of affordability of food. In fact, President said that the Caribbean has the highest cost for a healthy diet, when compared to other regions. This is something he noted a regional food hub can help change.
“In the region, we have the highest cost for a healthy diet. This is important, because food production is linked not only to social security and to livelihood issues, but also to health. And when you look at a healthy diet in the region, we have the highest cost at US$3.89 for person. While in the US, it is US$3.46 per person. In North America and Europe, it is US$3.19 per person,” the President added.
Among the initiatives being pioneered by Guyana is the development of the regional agri-tech campus. This project is being developed along with the Bangalore Bio Innovation Center in India.
The BBC, according to its website, is a state-of-the-art translational research and entrepreneurship center catering to all the needs of start-ups in life science located in the city of Bangalore, India. President Ali noted that the project will see technology and crop variety being developed that are catered for the Caribbean region.
Last year, an agri-investment forum and expo was held in Guyana, a joint initiative between the government and CARICOM secretariat. Government has also said it will be partnering with the private sector to establish a regional food hub.
Government’s focus on agriculture is down to the vision of making Guyana the bread basket of the Caribbean and reducing the regional food import bill. Last year, President Dr. Irfaan Ali had declared that his Government would be pursuing an aggressive campaign to dismantle regional barriers to agricultural trade and that in the next four years, with the assistance of more diversified crops, Guyana would aim to reduce Caricom’s food import bill by 25 per cent.
It was reported in February that member states of the Caribbean Community (Caricom) have collectively achieved a significant 57 per cent of the target set to realize “Vision 25 by 2025”. This announcement was made during the first Caricom Ministerial Task Force (MTF) on Food Production and Food Security meeting for 2023.
