Page 23 - The Caribbean Examiner 1-2020

THE CARIBBEAN EXAMINER

Securing Caribbean

Agriculture and

Food Security

By David O. Yawson
Centre for Resource Management and Environmental Studies (CERMES)
The University of the West Indies at Cave Hill, Barbados

Food security is said to exist when (irrigation) to maintain higher yields. It is not as a share of total land area of Barbados
everyone can physically and economically difficult, therefore, to imagine that both land has fallen from 44 per cent in 2000 to 23
access sufficient food at any time to serve and water could easily limit food production per cent in 2016. These indicate tension
their nutritional, physiological and lifestyle in the Caribbean. and a need for a reasonable balance
needs. The Sustainable Development Based on the ratio between available between food security ambitions, through
Goal (SDG) 2 aims to erase hunger in all water to population, a country is considered increased domestic food production,
countries but this can only be achieved absolutely water-scarce if the water available and the availability of critical resources
through a reasonable mix of food imports per person per year is less than 500 m3; underpinning production.
and domestic production. Producing enough water-scarce if the available water per In the face of this tension, Caribbean
food is fundamental to food security, as person ranges from 500 to 1000 m3; water- countries need to define for themselves
physical availability of food in sufficient stressed if the range is 1000 to 1700 m3 and thresholds of agricultural capacity, and
quantities underpins all other dimensions no stress if more than 1700 m3. related land and water requirements for
of food security. Based on this indicator, seven maintaining this capacity. By so doing,
Recently, there have been strong Caribbean countries rank among the top quality arable lands, for example,
calls to boost local food production in top-most water-scarce countries in the could be protected from irreversible
Caribbean countries. In Barbados, for world: Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, conversion to other land uses. Strategic
example, boosting local food production Dominica, Jamaica, St Kitts and Nevis, focus on production of certain quantities
has been emphasized as an effective path St Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad of certain foods is important for not only
to reducing the large food import bill (which and Tobago. Barbados, for example, has food security but also national security.
is in excess of $300 million). However, land absolute water scarcity. The latest (2019) These measures should also be
and water are two resources required for figures from the Food and Agriculture important components of adaptive
producing sufficient food. In cereals, for Organization (FAO) of the United Nations responses to potential deficits in global
example, the formation of yield depends indicate that the agricultural water supply of certain food commodities in
largely on water. While higher and stable withdrawal, as a proportion of total water the future due to global environmental
yields are important, total food produced withdrawal, was approximately 16 per cent change. The Caribbean has fertile lands
depends on total land area available for (Barbados), 68 per cent (Dominica), 51 per and agriculture is part of her rich history.
the production of different types of crops. cent (Jamaica), and 8 per cent (St Kitts The full force of policy, regulatory and
As Small Island Developing States (SIDS), and Nevis). While there are strong calls institutional power should therefore
Caribbean countries have small land areas, for increasing domestic food production be brought to bear on land and water
and by extension, small water resource in Barbados, arable land area keeps management to guarantee a defined
base. Being tropical countries, production of decreasing. For example, data from the threshold of agricultural capacity in the
annual crops require additional water supply World Bank indicates that arable land area Caribbean.

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