St. Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) is among the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) nations who collectively have reached the halfway point of the Guyana-led food security strategy to reduce expensive regional imports by 25% by 2025.
Guyana’s Ministry of Agriculture reports that St. Vincent and the Grenadines has joined other CARICOM nations in reaching 57 percent of the target. In other words, CARICOM countries have reduced food imports by somewhat more than 14 percent.
According to the press release, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, along with Guyana, Belize, Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, Dominica, Suriname, and Jamaica, have made significant strides in the production of commodities such as ginger, turmeric, corn, root crops, fruits, cocoa, poultry, meat, fish, table eggs, and dairy.
Last Friday, during this year’s first CARICOM Ministerial Taskforce (MTF) on Food Production and Food Security meeting, it was reported that products such as cocoa, dairy, meat, root crops, fruits, and poultry have already reached 96.13%, 84.36%, 72.28%, 70.91%, 70.77%, and 70.19% of the targeted production volume set for the year 2025, respectively.
The report also indicated that for 2022, Guyana produced some 20,195 MT of ginger and turmeric, 144,289 MT of root crops, 21,870 MT of fish, and 40,749 MT of coconut.
To reach the 25 percent goal by 2025, countries must continue to increase food production so that Caribbean food can replace food imported from other regions.
