“Food and nutrition security are vital pillars for the agricultural sector and are key to maintaining the health and well-being of our communities, particularly among the most vulnerable. The Caribbean Development Bank is deeply committed to this objective, and we are excited to continue working with our private sector, development, and finance partners to foster sustainable economic growth through food security.” affirmed CDB’s Ag Director of Projects Mr L. O’Reilly Lewis at the call for proposals launch of the Bank’s EU-CDB Regional Food Security Programme. CDB has been actively working with regional and international agencies to assist with CARICOM’s 25 by 2025 initiative which seeks to reduce the region’s rising food import bill, improve intra-regional trade, and create wealth and economic opportunities for the members of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM).

The recent pandemic and climatic events have impacted agricultural productivity with Hurricane Beryl and others contributing to deepening social inequalities with Grenada, Jamaica and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines suffering massive losses.  In Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, the banana and plantain industries suffered losses of up to 98%, while Jamaica’s agriculture sector incurred USD 15.9 million in damages, affecting over 45,000 farmers. Grenada saw 98% of its infrastructure on the islands of Carriacou and Petite Martinique destroyed. These events have slowed progress towards the regional shared goal of reducing food imports by 25% by 2025. The new food security programme will, through a series of projects ranging between EURO 400,00 – 570,000 for national projects and up to 670,000   will support agri-MSMEs and producers by providing access to finance, fostering innovation, and improving distribution systems to enhance competitiveness and resilience.

According to Mr Felipe de La Mota of the EU, the project forms part of a larger envelope of funds to augment regional efforts by CARICOM and the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) to clear bottlenecks related to food security. The EU’s global gateway has allocated EUR 19 million to the Caribbean for food production and resilience initiatives. Adding that “We are working together with our implementing partners and stakeholders colleagues, other institutions and governments… who know the region… to identify those sectors and bottle necks that we can help unlock.”

Homing in on the need for partnerships, the CDB executive indicated that “Addressing food security at a regional level is crucial, as no single member state can solve these issues alone, particularly smaller islands with limited resources. Through CARICOM’s unified market and congruent national and regional policy implementation, we can ensure that food production, supply, and consumption are sustainable and that we move closer to food sovereignty.” He encouraged stakeholders to work together to ensure no country is left behind.

The Manager Agricultural Health, Food Safety and Quality Programme at the Inter American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), a programme partner, Dr. José Urdaz, who also spoke at the event emphasized the impact of global volatility on food and nutrition security. He highlighted current upward trends in undernourishment and food insecurity in the region and the existing over reliance on food imports. Urdaz also stated that IICA will continue to partner with organisations to improve Caribbean food security focusing on ensuring that food traded is safe. This, he added can be accommodated through strategic initiatives to reduce non-technical trade barriers, sanitary and phytosanitary measures and by implementing capacity building.  “IICA,” he added “will work with programme partners to improve food processing capabilities to increase regional distribution of agricultural and fisheries products.”