The European Union (EU) is providing €19 million to enhance the resilience and sustainability of food systems in the Caribbean, promoting food and nutrition security, particularly for groups in vulnerable situations. This is part of the EU’s larger €600 million effort to step up support to the most vulnerable African, Caribbean and Pacific countries hit by the global food crisis.
The EU-CARIFORUM Food Security Programme was launched on 23 November in Guyana in the presence of the Secretary General of CARICOM/CARIFORUM, Dr Carla N. Barnett, and the Honourable Zulfikar Mustapha, Minister for Agriculture of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, representing the President of the Republic of Guyana, lead head for Agriculture, Agricultural Diversification and Food Security in the CARICOM Quasi Cabinet.
Under this Food Security programme, the EU and CARIFORUM will work hand in hand with their respective national partners to target some of the most pressing bottlenecks to achieving a sustainable solution to food and nutrition security in the Caribbean Region.
This includes sustainable and climate-smart production processes of locally produced food, efficient and reliable regional distribution mechanisms, healthy consumption patterns, and resilient social protection structures. The programme will also advance the CARICOM joint commitment to reduce the Caribbean’s food import bill by 25% by 2025 and the Food and Agriculture Systems Transformation (FAST) Strategy of the OECS.
For this purpose, the EU is collaborating with the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB), the International Trade Centre (ITC), the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) and the International and Ibero-American Foundation for Administration and Public Policies (FIIAPP), in coordination with CARIFORUM, CARICOM and the CARICOM Ministerial Task Force on Food Production and Food Security.
The ITC component will strengthen selected value chains and market linkages, while IICA will focus on enhancing sanitary and phytosanitary systems. In parallel, FIIAPP will work with Caribbean countries on the issues of nutrition and healthy diets and supporting inclusive social protection systems. The CDB component will focus on attracting investment, supporting agri-tech solutions and enhancing distribution channels, in particular through intra-regional maritime transport.
This programme is also in line with the new EU Global Gateway strategy to boost smart, clean and secure links in digital, energy and transport sectors, and to strengthen health, education and research systems across the world.
European Commission Deputy Director-General for International Partnerships Mrs. Myriam Ferran affirmed: “In this dire context of global food crisis, I want to stress, the European Union’s commitment to supporting regional efforts towards more sustainable and resilient food systems in the Caribbean. The new EU programme that we are launching here today has consulted with national, regional and international partners and will promote food and nutrition security, particularly for groups in vulnerable situations. It will have a strong focus on facilitating investment as a key driver of growth and development of the agricultural and fishery sector.”
The Secretary-General of CARICOM Dr Carla Barnett noted that food and nutrition security is now one of the highest priorities for CARICOM. “The Programme is expected to contribute to several critical outputs, including supporting research and investments in food production solutions, strengthening selected agriculture and fisheries value-chains at local and regional levels, and improving food processing capabilities to increase regional food distribution,” she stated.
Minister for Agriculture of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana Honourable Zulfikar Mustapha said: “This EU Caribbean Regional Food Security Programme is expected to have a wide cross-section of beneficiaries such as regulatory and inspection services, competent authorities, laboratories and private sector, small producers, fisher-folk, agri-business operators, cooperatives and producer organisations with special consideration for youth, women and other marginalised persons through social inclusion.”
He noted that CARICOM’s expectation is that the project will provide on-the-ground, accelerated results towards achieving Vision 25 by 2025.
Implementation of the project will start in December 2023 and will last for four years.
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