The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretariat, the Secretariat of the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF), the Government of Italy and the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) on Wednesday (January 12) co-sponsored a forum on agriculture, food production and food security in the Caribbean and Pacific regions as a partnership event at the international meeting on small island developing states (SIDS) in Mauritius.
At the event, proposals were highlighted for major food security programmes developed by the FAO, CARICOM, the Caribbean Forum (CARIFORUM) of the African Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) States in the Caribbean with the support of the Government of Italy. The FAO also made presentations on projects being implemented in the Pacific.
The early morning meeting at the Le Meridian hotel, outside the Mauritian capital of Port Louis, was attended by civil society and business leaders and government representatives of several countries of the Caribbean and Pacific regions, including the Prime Minister of Tonga, His Royal Highness Prince Ulukalala Lavaka Ata, and the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Vanuatu, Hon. Sato Kilman. Several officials of the Government of Italy also attended.
The participants discussed with funding agencies, including the FAO and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the elements of existing projects as well as the need for additional programmes aimed at reducing food dependency and correcting the inability on the part of many countries to produce sufficiently to feed their populations.
In his welcoming remarks, the Secretary-General CARICOM, His Excellency Edwin Carrington, noted that while up to the mid-1980s CARICOM countries as a group were net food exporters, the Region is now a significant net food importer. This situation, he warned, could become worse in a short while, as the main export crops of the Member Countries continue to lose markets and value as a result of liberalisation, especially within the European Union (EU).
He added that against the background of these challenges, and following the experience of a near food crisis in some Caribbean countries in the aftermath of September 11, the FAO and the CARICOM Secretariat collaborated on the development of a US$26 Million Food Security Project. The project was launched in December 2002 in association with the Inter-American Development Bank, and by March 2003 received the prompt and positive response of the Government of Italy, which signed a US$5 million component in October that year.
Mr. Carrington thanked the FAO and the Government of Italy for their support and noted that the project fits within CARICOM's own initiatives to formulate a comprehensive policy on agriculture. That policy resulted in the development of the Regional Transformation Programme in Agriculture, which falls under the guidance of the Lead Head of Government with responsibility for agriculture, His Excellency the President of Guyana, and is in keeping with the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas establishing CARICOM including the Single Market and Economy (CSME).
“We in the Caribbean recognize that many of the challenges we face in the area of agriculture, food production and food security are shared by our brothers and sisters in the Pacific, and so we are pleased to be forging an important partnership in this regard,” the Secretary-General said. He added: “All our efforts, we must never forget, are vital to reducing the vulnerability of our small island states in the critical area of food security and preserving the wellbeing of our people. There is no objective and endeavour of greater importance.”
Meanwhile, Deputy Director-General for Development Co-operation in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Italy, Mr. Gilanni Ghisi, pointed out that food security is one of the two pillars of Italian support to small island states – the other being in the area of governance through the use of Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs). He expressed the satisfaction and confidence of the Government of Italy in working with both the Caribbean and the Pacific regions in the continuation of the beneficial relationships.
