Are Barbados and the region still challengedby food security issues?
Barbados has kept the prevelance of undernourishment below five per cent since 1990 to 1992, except during the 2003 to 2005 triennium, when it rose to six per cent before falling again during the next triennium.
From 1990 to 2012 the gross domestic product (GDP) of Barbados had a 0.91 per cent average annual growth. While in the 1990s the average growth was 0.9 per cent, in the 2000 to 2009 period the average annual growth was 1.1 per cent. The impact of the 2009 crisis on the country was severe, and growth in 2009 was -4.13 per cent. These results are explained in large part by the evolution in tourism, especially considering the important relationship between the group of tourism and GDP growth seen in the country: ten per cent to 12 per cent of GDP corresponds to the tourism sector. Between 2010 and 2012, the GDP growth averaged only 0.3 per cent, which is consistent with the decrease of -0.2 per cent in the country’s per capita GDP in the same period.
In this sluggish economic context, Barbados maintains a food supply of
3 111 calories per person per day, surpassing the minimum requirements of its population. Barbados depends almost exclusively on imports to provide this level, being a net agri food importer.
In fact, between 2010 and 2012 agriculture contributed only 1.2 per cent of GDP and agricultural GDP has shown a decrease of 5.3 per cent over the same period. The situation of poverty and inequality, meanwhile, has become a concern in recent years.
Increase in poverty
There was a 5.4 percentage point increase in poverty since 1997. In this sense, the country has focussed on ensuring the levels of income of the population, particularly of the most vulnerable through the non-contributory old age penson and the unemployment benefit.
With regard to unemployment, there has been an upward trend since 2007, reaching 11.2 per cent in 2013, even though it is 3.5 percentage points lower than the levels seen in 1990.
Unemployment, inequality and poverty present significant challenges for the food and nutrition security of the country. In this context, in recent years support for agricultural production has increased so as to ensure food and nutrition security and diversify the economy.
The state has focused mainly in three areas: arable land; credit and financing; and machinery. The country implements the Land For The Landless Programme, to increase the cultivated area of the country and lease land to farmeers who lack productive land. It also provides support through agricultural machinery for small and medium producers who do not have adequate machinery for ploughing and sowing, through the Tractor Cultivation Scheme.
The country delivers financing for productive agricultural enterprises through the Agricultural Development Fund. Regarding the utilisation dimension of food and nutrition security, the country has achieved virtually universal access to safe drinking water in both urban and rural areas, increasing the coverage by 4.4 per cent between 1990 and 2012, reaching 99.8 per cent of the population in 2012. On the other hand, obesity is a major issue in nutritional matters, since 33.4 per cent of the adult population are overweight or obese, with the prevalence in women (44.2 per cent) doubling that of men (21.6 per cent).