Rampant heatwaves are a growing threat to Caribbean food security. In an article, Forbes.com emphasizes the need for climate adaptation and other measures to maintain the successes of CARICOM’s 25 by 2025 initiative, which seeks to cut the region’s food import bill by 25% by 2025.
The article states that in St. Vincent, where farmers are still reeling from the destruction caused by the catastrophic volcanic eruption of La Soufrière in 2020, a long-term drought has reduced yields and created total crop failure in some instances.
Forbes.com quoted Agriculture Minister Saboto Caesar as saying that soil nutrients and irrigation systems have been experiencing significant pressure, with worrisome implications for the future.
“We produce most of our vegetables in the open field as opposed to shade houses. The intense heat over the past weeks is having a negative impact on vegetable production just ahead of the Christmas period which is categorized as a season of ery high demand for vegetables. It is becoming more challenging in this period of climate change to ensure that food is available, accessible, and affordable.”
What are the impacts of heat waves and drought on Caribbean food security?
The unprecedented temperatures are affecting soil and water, worker productivity and income, food prices and trade, with consequences for the availability, accessibility, and affordability of major crops, fish stocks, livestock, and even imported food.
Crops such as tomatoes are tremendously vulnerable to high temperatures. Heat-related physical strain and health problems limit people’s ability to work and earn an income, thus limiting their ability to afford to buy food. Extreme heat and drought have real implications for labor productivity, particularly among smallholder farmers who comprise up to 10% of the labor force in countries such as St. Vincent and the Grenadines and St. Lucia, and 15% of the labor force in Jamaica and Guyana.
By April 2023, Caribbean food inflation rose by as much as 67% in Suriname, 17% in Trinidad & Tobago, 11% in Jamaica, 6.9% in Guyana, and 4.3% in Barbados.
What are the potential consequences of persistent droughts on regional food security?
Persistent droughts can have severe consequences on regional food security. According to Joseph Glauber, a senior research fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute, they could lead to regional shortfalls and, with poor countries unable to afford higher prices, food security issues.
In the Caribbean, where countries import approximately three-quarters of what they eat, climate-related pressures on food systems elsewhere in the world, including in the United States, the Caribbean’s closest trade partner, have had spillover effects on regional food prices. This can make it difficult for vulnerable populations, including smallholder farmers, to afford food.
