Guyana's agriculture minister urges Caribbean people to eat what they grow
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| Published on Monday, October 19, 2009 |
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GEORGETOWN, Guyana -- As Guyana joined in the observances of World Food Day 2009, Agriculture Minister Robert Persaud urged that the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) look more to locally grown and produced foods, particularly since Guyana has embarked on a programme to assist the region in attaining food security.
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| Guyana's Minister of Agriculture, Robert Persaud |
Persaud, during a World Food Day activity here, said it is very worrying that the region through its actions and policies seems to prefer importing food rather than using locally grown produce.
“It is my opinion that such problems have arisen in the Caribbean region because we, as a people, have moved away from our traditional nutritious foods and have embraced a lifestyle, including the foods, subtly suggested to us through a blitz of TV advertising," Persaud said.
"In the process, the CARICOM region spends more than US$3.5 billion in extra regional food imports, and deprives our farmers and food processors of a commensurate amount of benefit," the minister said.
“If the policymakers and people of our region return to the foods that we can produce ourselves, regional food security and food nutrition security could once more be restored. Guyana stands ready to play its part in ensuring that the world can achieve food security in times of crisis,” Persaud said.
He added that since Guyana had been successful in meeting the food demand locally, the aim at this time is to assist the region in satisfying its food needs.
Meanwhile, Dr Lystra Fletcher-Paul, Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) resident representative, read a message by the FAO Director- General Jacques Diouf which indicated that the recent increase in hunger had not been the consequence of a poor global harvest, but was caused by the world economic crisis, which has reduced incomes and employment opportunities of the poor and significantly
World Food Day was observed under the theme: “Achieving Food Security in Time of Crisis.” | | | | Reads : 738 | | | |
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