Nineteenth Inter-Sessional Meeting of The Conference of Heads of Government of CARICOM
Bahamas, 7-8 March 2008Excellencies, Heads of State and Government,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is a privilege and a great honour for me to participate today in the Nineteenth Inter-Sessional Meeting of The Conference of Heads of Government of CARICOM.
I am aware of the issues that the region has to confront: rising agricultural prices, the impact of climate change, bioenergy development and transboundary diseases.
The theme of food security in the Caribbean requires additional efforts to resolve the problems of diet, health and vulnerability.
Rising agricultural prices
The Caribbean region is affected by global trends in international prices of major agricultural commodities. Dairy products, cereals and vegetable oils have risen sharply because of a tight supply and demand situation. In 2007, the average FAO food price index stood at 157 points, a 23 percent increase from 2006 and a 34 percent increase from 2005. Last December, the average index reached 184 points, a record monthly level since the index was created in 1990. Imports of dairy products and cereals are increasingly significant in the Caribbean. In 2007, the average FAO price index for dairy products was 295, representing an 83 percent increase from December 2006. The average price index for cereals was 210, an increase of 41 percent from December 2006. As a result, the region's cereals import bill increased by 13 percent between 2006 and 2007, equivalent to an extra cost of 94 million US dollars.
Excellencies,
At the Special Meeting of Heads of Government held on 7 December last year in Georgetown, in Guyana, you analysed the problems of poverty and higher agricultural prices in the 15 member countries of CARICOM.
CARICOM and governments can take measures to deal with the situation in the short term and can find longer-term solutions.
Interregional trade is an important first response. Production and productivity must be increased, but sound sanitary and phytosanitary measures are also needed, as are more functional and efficient communication and transport networks. In this connection, critical analysis of food chains, investment and agroindustry promotion is an essential component of the second phase of the Regional Programme for Food Security that is promoted by FAO and which is due to be launched this month.
Short-term measures are equally important, as demonstrated in the example of the Government of Jamaica which has introduced a temporary price support programme to stabilize prices and protect the most vulnerable. Similarly, the Government of Grenada has introduced a cost-of-living assistance programme to help the poorest households.
FAO has just launched a major programme, the Initiative on Soaring Food Prices (ISFP), the objective of which is to quickly boost production in the most affected countries and to increase food availability and access for the poorest populations. The aim of this initiative is to facilitate access to key inputs: seeds and fertilizer. To ensure coherence and sustainability, it will be integrated into national policies and existing programmes.
FAO is ready to assist CARICOM in forging a comprehensive response to the problem of rising agricultural commodity prices and their implications for agricultural development and food security in the region. As part of the Regional Programme for Food Security, an FAO specialist will be appointed to help the CARICOM Secretariat to define policies in areas such as agricultural commodity prices and trade policy, risk management and climate change.
Climate change
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Efforts to combat food insecurity are undermined by climate change, as has been shown by the recent floods in Guyana and also the frequency and violence of cyclones in the Caribbean, with their aftermath of victims, displaced populations, destroyed harvests and decimated seed stocks.
Through cooperation with the scientific community, FAO is evaluating climate change at the immediate and longer- terms as well as its impact and foreseeable consequences, notably in the framework of the Nairobi Work Programme on Impacts, Vulnerability and Adaptation to Climate Change of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
Nutritional Situation
The Caribbean countries have made significant progress in improving food quality. However, their dependence on imported food products has increased while local agriculture is declining, and unbalanced diets cause problems of obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. FAO has cooperated with Dominica, Grenada, Saint Lucia, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines to develop national consumer guidelines on healthier diets. The related project ended in 2007 with significant and interesting results.
Transboundary diseases
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Your region also faces several other types of challenges, particularly in the area of prevention, detection and control of transboundary animal diseases. Multiple actions have been undertaken to prevent highly pathogenic avian influenza through the Global Framework for the Progressive Control of Transboundary Animal Diseases, a joint initiative conducted globally with the OIE and regionally with PAHO, IICA/OAS, CARICOM and RIOPPAH. Field and laboratory experts have been trained in the recognition, detection and isolation of the H5N1 virus to understand its epidemiology and the factors that enable it to spread, in order to help countries to prepare contingency plans. Aid from donor countries and partner organizations has been crucial in this regard.
Classical swine fever has infested pigs and affected livelihoods in several countries of the region. The New World Screwworm exists on some islands. There has been investment in appropriate technology through FAO and the IAEA to enhance its control. Foot-and-mouth disease is absent from the region but is present in many countries of South America, a situation that requires great vigilance. Rabies, which affects animals, can easily be transmitted to humans. Better coordination between FAO and its partners, including PAHO and the ministries responsible for animal health, is required in all these areas, as well as the allocation of necessary resources to eradicate these diseases.
FAO has worked with USDA to elaborate a regional strategy to reduce the incidence of the tropical bont tick in the Caribbean. It was eradicated in several of the larger islands of the region, but it still persists and its re-emerges is certain unless governments and farmers invest more in its control programme.
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Bioenergy
The production of biofuels, ethanol and biodiesel, currently represents 2 percent of fuel consumption. Higher demand for agricultural feedstock to produce biofuels, mainly for transportation, has had an impact on world markets and commodity prices. The debate on bioenergy is very complex. There is the agricultural debate. But there are also the industrial, commercial and energy debates, not to mention the problem of sustainable use of resources. International consensus is difficult to achieve. FAO will continue to work closely with member countries, individually and collectively, through multidisciplinary approaches to resolve the problems and reduce the adverse impacts.
The High-Level Conference on World Food Security and the Challenges of Climate Change and Bioenergy to be held in Rome from 3 to 5 June 2008 should allow Member Nations to adopt policies, strategies and programmes to overcome these challenges.
International Trade
The Doha Development Round and the ACP-EU negotiations pledged to establish freer trade regimes that are also more equitable. The Caribbean’s experience in this regard has not been very positive. While agricultural imports increase, exports fall and their share in international agricultural trade is declining. Without clarification of preferential treatments and the "aid for trade" initiative - particularly in relation to rural infrastructure, agricultural productivity and diversification, and sanitary and phytosanitary capacity - it would not be possible to access international markets.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Higher and diversified agricultural production and trade liberalization cannot alone resolve the problems of poverty and malnutrition. It is required to put in place appropriate agricultural policies, invest in rural infrastructure, applied research in the area of food security and education in order to stimulate growth and encourage investment by the private sector.
As I mentioned, FAO is supporting the second phase of the Regional Programme for Food Security and has assisted 15 countries in the region to formulate their National Medium-term Investment Programmes (NMTIPs) for agriculture, identifying investment priorities. The NMTIPs have enabled ministries of agriculture to prepare Bankable Investment Project Profiles (BIPPs). These projects concern the improvement of the economic and institutional environment, technology development and transfer for the production and processing of commodities, enterprise development and trade facilitation, food security improvement and sustainable development. Total investment for strengthening the Regional Programme for Food Security and for the 38 project profiles that have been identified amounts to more than US$ 250 million, including US$ 200 million to be financed by external funding.
I should therefore like to commend the decision of the Twenty-eighth Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government held from 3 to 6 July 2007 in Barbados, which endorsed the conclusions of the Agriculture Donor Conference held on 2 June 2007 in Trinidad and Tobago and its plan of action, and in particular the decisions to plan and ensure follow-up to the Conference on Investment in Agriculture.
FAO is a member of the Regional Preparatory Committee for the Agri-Business Investment Forum scheduled for June 2008. FAO's activities on agricultural trade and its work related to the WTO negotiations and the ACP-EU agreements will enable it to provide information on market developments to potential investors and financial institutions. At the same time, FAO’s work on food chains, which has started in January 2008, will contribute to the understanding and promotion of solid investment opportunities in the region.
FAO will continue to provide assistance to initiatives resulting from discussions of Heads of Government to better support the development of the agricultural sector. This would require higher public and private investment in order to facilitate the necessary innovations for the Caribbean and ensure the enlargement of the agricultural commodity market.
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is our duty to work together to win the fight against hunger and poverty in the region.
Thank you for your attention.