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The European Union alongside Secretary General of CARICOM (Caribbean Community), Carla Barnett, Honourable Minister of Agriculture of Guyana, Zulfikar Mustapha and Assistant Secretary-General of CARICOM Joseph Cox launched the regional food security programme for the Caribbean. Under Global Gateway, the EU’s positive offer to build trusted and sustainable connections with partner countries, this programme aims to enhance sustainable agricultural and fisheries practices and processing in the region, while promoting improved access to nutritious and healthy diets for the region’s citizens.
Commissioner for International Partnerships, Jutta Urpilainen, said: “Through Global Gateway, the EU is supporting the strategic autonomy of our partner countries. In line with the new Samoa Agreement, we want to empower our Caribbean partners to build their food systems through sustainable production for better resilience to face the most pressing challenges such as climate change, and other external shocks. This support will allow businesses to invest in upgraded agriculture and fisheries and to offer healthy diets to many more Caribbean citizens.”
The signature took place at a meeting in the CARIFORUM Secretariat in Georgetown, Guyana. Myriam Ferran, Deputy Director General at the European Commission’s Directorate General for International Partnerships launched the programme on behalf of the European Commission.
The Regional Food Security programme consists of €19 million EU support, these funds come from a total of €36 million exclusively for the Caribbean mobilised by the European Commission to address the current food security crisis in African, Caribbean and Pacific countries. The programme’s key objective is to facilitate investment as a key driver of growth and development of the agricultural and fishery sector. Today’s announcement closely aligns with the EU and Caribbean partners’ aims to build out climate-resilient infrastructure, in line with the Global Gateway investment agenda presented at the EU-CELAC Summit in July.
The programme will work towards advancing food security for the region around the following four objectives:
- Enhanced sustainability for agricultural and fisheries sectors to gain greater access to finance to invest in innovative food production solutions, at a local and regional level.
- Improved processing and regional distribution systems of food products: to ensure food products reach consumers in the best conditions, reducing food waste and costs for companies and consumers.
- Extended inclusivity of national social protection systems, particularly for agricultural actors: the programme will support the region and countries to increase their coverage and effectiveness in the farming sector so employees have access to sustainable working conditions and social security systems.
- Promote equitable access to nutritionally adequate and healthy diets: the programme will strengthen governance at a regional and country level governance to support citizens in making healthy consumption patterns and gaining access to nutritious food options.
Background
Food Insecurity in the Caribbean
Food insecurity in the Caribbean is relatively high and growing, according to a recent survey conducted by CARICOM and the World Food Programme (WFP) – 52% of the population in the English-speaking Caribbean is food insecure, or around 3.7 million people. This situation has been particularly acute since the COVID pandemic, but has worsened further since the outbreak of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine in February 2022. These factors, coupled with climate change have provoked food prices to climb considerably, with healthy food options simply being out of reach for many households, as well as disrupting food deliveries to global markets.
Food security is a high priority for the region. CARICOM Heads of Government have agreed to the joint commitment of reducing the Caribbean’s food import bill by 25% by 2025. The EU’s regional food security programme will supports this ambition.
EU commitment to tackling Food Security in the Caribbean
The European Commission adopted a proposal to mobilise €600 million to address the current food security crisis in African, Caribbean and Pacific countries, while contributing to sustainable and resilient food systems (see EC Press Release 21st July). The support included €36 million exclusively for the Caribbean, structured as follows:
- Humanitarian food assistance: €9.5 million, of which €6.5 million for Haiti and €3 million for Caribbean countries.
- Food production and resilience: €27 million, of which €19 million for the Caribbean regional programme (to be launched in Guyana in your presence) and €8 million for Haiti.
This EU programme has therefore been structured to target some of the most pressing bottlenecks to achieving a sustainable solution to food and nutrition security in the region, including sustainable and climate-smart production processes of locally produced food, efficient and reliable regional distribution mechanisms, healthy consumption patterns, and resilient social protection structures.
EU commitment to tackling Food Security globally
In the period 2020-2024, the EU is investing €18 billion in food security worldwide. Over 70 countries will be supported in increasing resilience of their food systems. The Russian invasion of Ukraine is endangering food security for millions of people around the world, particularly in low-income countries that depend on food and fertiliser imports. The European Union is taking steps to ensure that global food security is restored through international cooperation. It is also mobilising humanitarian aid and support to the most affected farmers.