A call has been made to increase investments in agri-food systems, regional food production and to develop targeted initiatives to resolve bottlenecks to import reduction.
A recent study of over 6,000 households across 22 countries and territories found that 2.8 million persons in the English-speaking Caribbean are estimated to be food insecure, a reality caused by the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
This is among five recommendations made by the World Food Programme (WFP) in its Caribbean COVID-19 Food Security & Livelihoods Impact Survey for February 2022, launched on Tuesday.
WFP reasoned that heavy import dependency among most Caribbean economies on fuel, food products and agricultural inputs means that global changes in oil, shipping and commodity prices will further drive inflationary trends.
With the Ukraine crisis further impacting global food prices, the humanitarian organisation said CARICOM’s call to reduce imports by 25 percent by 2025 is more important than ever.
