BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC – The Caribbean Office of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is cautioning regional countries that the challenges posed by global high food prices are real and the market could remain volatile with long term predictions show no immediate relief.
The FAO urges the Caribbean to take immediate action and one expert is proposing the introduction of a tax on the region’s four billion US dollar food import bill, so as to allow the Caribbean to get back to reviving its agriculture sector.
The food crisis peaked during the period 2007-2008 and economists say that the world may have already entered an era where persistently high food prices are the “new norm”.
“It means the dollar that the householder would have used to buy some goods, particularly their basic needs cannot any longer meet their needs, “said Florita Kentish, sub-regional Coordinator for the Barbados based Caribbean FAO office.
According to the FAO, Caribbean householders spend the bulk of their income on food and this is likely to increase as food prices continue to rise.
“One of the things you will find in the Caribbean, the average householder is spending between 40 to 70 per cent of their income on food. With the increase in food prices, that is going to become even higher,” said Dr. Vincent Little, the FAO’s Regional Policy Advisor and consultant for Food and Nutrition Security.
He said the high prices have forced Caribbean consumers to make serious adjustments.
“One way of adjusting is to buy less food and so that is going to impact on their dietary requirements. So it is critical that issues relating to high food prices to volatile food prices are addressed in a very concrete way to the Caribbean region.”
Dr. Little told the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC) the present crisis signals a clear need for the region to revive an ailing agriculture sector which he laments has suffered from a lack of investment.
He said that the Caribbean should seek to cash in on the multi-billion dollar food import bill to boost agriculture and ensure greater food security.
“We have under invested in the agricultural sector. In fact you will find the sector has declined in terms of its contribution to national development.
“I honestly think it time we put a tax on the four billion us dollar food import bill and there we should be able to create a significant pool of resources to support our national development process in the region, Dr. Little said.
FAO sub-regional Co-ordinator, Florita Kentish believes a renewed focus on agriculture is the answer,
She advises Caribbean countries to place high priority on investing in the sector, insisting that the region must take charge of its own food security.
“We have seen in the past where just a serious event like 9/11 just shut off the borders for quite some time,” she said warning that “to depend completely on food from outside of the region and we’re going more and more in that direction is certainly not wise.
“We need to ensure that food is accessible to all, our people, it is available to all, they are able to have enough resources in order to bury or get it as well, ” Kentish said.
In the meantime, the FAO is lending a helping hand to ensure the region can better respond to high fuel prices.
The UN body is presently designing a system to collect data to allow regional authorities to monitor the food prices both at the national and international level.
“We are trying to design a system for data collection and for monitoring of prices both national and international. In addition to that price monitoring we are also working with other partners in the private sector on issues relating to feed production. We are trying to determine the feasibility of producing corn and other feed inputs.” Dr. Little told CMC.
