Georgetown: World Food Day was observed recently in Guyana with a call for everyone to play a part in ending chronic hunger and malnutrition, and prominence given to cassava, and cassava products.
Today is World Food Day, but due to Eid Ul Adha being observed on that date in Guyana, the observance was held Tuesday at the National Agriculture Research and Extension Institute (NAREI) compound, Mon Repos under the theme, “Sustainable Food Systems for Food Security and Nutrition”.
Agriculture Minister Dr Leslie Ramsammy, in underscoring the importance for all to do their part in ending hunger, said, “I do believe that we should take it as our moral responsibility as peoples and as nations to ensure, that we ensure, that we put the system in place that at the very least would ensure that no one goes hungry, whether they live in Africa, Europe, Asia, North America, South America or the Caribbean.”
This goal must become the national aspiration in Guyana, irrespective of where ever one lives. “We must create the social safety nets to ensure that if someone lives in vulnerable circumstances, and if they cannot afford to live a life of luxury that the minimum that we are prepared to accept is that everyone has enough to eat,” he said.
The Agriculture Minister also warned of overcoming the challenge of not only guaranteeing everyone consumes an adequate amount of food, but also of ensuring that citizens have enough calorie intake and consume nutritious foods, that support good health.
He pointed out that whilst it is true that there are many among us who do not have enough to eat, the facts are also true that many who have, eat food that make them overweight, or obese.
“We in the Caribbean with open spaces and with good vegetables and fruits have no excuse and no defence when we face and confront the fact that more than 30 percent of our populations are obese and more than 60 percent overweight,” Minister Ramsammy said.
Food processing policies
To this end, the Agriculture Minister called for food processing policies to support production of good nutritious food in the Caribbean.
He said that the time is well past for the Ministers of Agriculture and of Health of the Caribbean to address this issue especially as it relates to trans-fat, salt and sugar in food preparation.
Minister Ramsammy also addressed the issue of land for agriculture being sacrificed for bio-fuel production. He noted that this is not an option in Guyana, as the country is committed that “no land for food will ever be diverted to the production of bio-fuel.” The Minister said that any bio-fuel produce in Guyana will be land that is not used or planned to be used for food production.
Meanwhile Representative FAO, Dr. Lystra Fletcher-Paul read the message of Director General of the FAO, Jose Graziano Da Silva for World Food Day, reaffirming the FAO’s commitment to support the fight against hunger and malnutrition for the rest of world’s population that still suffer from the two. Da Silva also called for world support on how to address the great challenges of translating rising food availability into better nutrition for all people, and how to make the necessary shift to environmentally and socially sustainable production and consumption system.
“We can all play a part in this through changing our own lifestyle, and must do so if we are to correct the dreadful food situation …I am confident that we can do better on both fronts.”
Da Silva pointed out that countries which are committed to ensuring all their people enjoy their human right to food have ensured that hunger and malnutrition are addressed through direct measures such as school meal programmes and cash transfer to the poorest families to enable them to bridge the food gap.
A small exhibition of cassava products and food was facilitated at NAREI, and its Head, Dr. Oudho Homenauth explained that the emphasis on the cassava is to showcase the agriculture product potential as a crop from a food security standpoint, as well as for industrial development.
Cassava is the third largest source of carbohydrates in the tropic, after rice and corn and is the basic diet for over half a billion people in the developing world.
Cassava is regarded as the most important root crop in Guyana and a staple for a significant segment of its population. It is one of the local commodities that the ministry has targeted for development.
Dr. Homenauth explained that the Agriculture Ministry has devised a work programme geared at enhancing the production and productivity of the crop. For instance the ministry is providing technical support for cassava projects implemented in the hinterland communities aimed at improving production and productivity.
He said too, that the ministry is working with its local partners in accessing improved technology for production and processing of the root crop.
Dr Homenauth also called for prominence to be placed on use of cassava in poultry feed and production of starch as it would reduce over $1B expended on the importation of corn, which is the major ingredient in poultry feed.
World Food Day, established by the FAO is celebrated, worldwide, every year, on October 16, since 1979 and serves to bring heightened awareness of the problem of world hunger.
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