As part of its celebrations to mark World Food Day on October 16, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Nutritional Security, presented four local charities with food donations, at the Ministry’s Graeme Hall, Christ Church headquarters, last Friday.
Under the theme “Leave No One Behind”, the Ministry and the Food and Agriculture Ogranisation of the United Nations, came together and contributed towards helping these charitable organisations offset their food bill against rising food prices. It was also in an effort to provide healthy foods for those in need.
Minister Indar Weir noted that 3.1 billion people around the world could not afford a healthy diet, while 828 million were affected by hunger every day.
“You see how the current war between Russian and Ukraine is wreaking havoc on food supply chains that have driven prices of wheat, barley and other staples, as well as fertilizers to rise to unprecedented levels. Then you understand how people will continue to suffer and the marginalised among us become more vulnerable,” Minister Weir stated.
He continued: “We have a huge amount of wastage in the world, according to the World Food Programme; one third of food produced for local consumption is lost or wasted globally, that equates to 1.3 Billion tonnes of food worth around US $1 trillion dollars. All the food produced and never eaten will be enough to feed two billion people or 14 percent of wastage occurs between harvest and retail and 17 percent of food produced is wasted general.”
Chief Agricultural Officer, Keeley Holder, noting that Barbados “as a small island developing state” was highly food insecure, said: “Our inflation is imported and as a result we’re very much price dependent and whatever else happens overseas, even with the measure that have been put in place, yet again we see that inputs have soared.”
The Chief stressed that farmers also had challenges with flooding this time of year due to climate change and had to continue tackling the agricultural aspect of the food import bill.
She pointed to ways in which the Ministry was seeking to expand the types of food that we produce. Ms. Holder said: “We’re now looking to include aquaculture and shrimp farming as one of the areas we could add to our list of locally produce items; to expand what we are providing to the Barbadian public but also to maximize our production here in Barbados.
“We’re also building linkages with our CARICOM neighbours we’re part of the special ministerial task force that is looking at reducing the food import bill by twenty-five percent by 2025. These are all initiatives that we’ve been embarking on to ensure that we are able to provide for our people, provide for our people in the region and work together, leaving no one behind.”
The four charities that received donations were Street Lamp Ministries, the Barbados Alliance to End Homelessness, the Barbados Child Care Board and the Prison Fellowship Barbados.
Donations to the charities were made possible through corporate Barbados and Government – Massy Distribution Ltd; Massy Stores Ltd; Pelican Market Suppliers; Premium Foods; Western Trading Co.; Knights Ltd; Valley Plantation; The Barbados Agricultural Management Company (BAMC) and the Barbados Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation (BADMC).