• Latest
Recalling the promise of improving lives and livelihoods through agriculture

Recalling the promise of improving lives and livelihoods through agriculture

3 years ago
Never stop learning

Never stop learning

1 hour ago

This Day in Grenada History: 30 May 1650

4 hours ago
TAMCC hosts tropical agriculture study-abroad mission

TAMCC hosts tropical agriculture study-abroad mission

1 day ago
Commissioners’ conference was not a talk shop

Commissioners’ conference was not a talk shop

1 day ago
Outpatient clinic relocated to General Hospital building Phase 2

Outpatient clinic relocated to General Hospital building Phase 2

1 day ago
Beacon assists Calliste Government School

Beacon assists Calliste Government School

4 days ago
IMF commences 2023 Article IV Consultation with Grenada  

IMF warns Grenada against offering future tax amnesty

4 days ago
No case made against longstanding GPWU Officer

No case made against longstanding GPWU Officer

4 days ago
4th IMF Review Begins

Staff Concluding Statement of 2023 Article IV Mission

4 days ago
Chikungunya News Update

Vector Control Department intensifies mosquito fogging

4 days ago
Grenada to receive US$100 million from Saudi Arabia

Grenada to receive US$100 million from Saudi Arabia

4 days ago
Grenada Pavilion in Venice opens to surprised audience

Grenada Pavilion in Venice opens to surprised audience

4 days ago
NOW Grenada
  • Front Page
  • Categories
    • General News
      • All
      • Agriculture & Fisheries
      • Arts & Culture
      • Business
      • Education
      • Environment
      • Health
      • History
      • Lifestyle
      • Law
      • Politics
      • Technology
      • Travel & Tourism
      • Weather
      • Youth
    • Sports
      • All
      • Athletics
      • Cricket
      • Football
      • Watersports
    • Community
      • All
      • Tribute
    • Crime
    • Features
      • All
      • Today in History
    • Opinion/Commentary
    • Press Releases
      • All
      • Advertisements
      • Notices
  • Video
  • Notices & Vacancies
  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
No Result
View All Result
  • Front Page
  • Categories
    • General News
      • All
      • Agriculture & Fisheries
      • Arts & Culture
      • Business
      • Education
      • Environment
      • Health
      • History
      • Lifestyle
      • Law
      • Politics
      • Technology
      • Travel & Tourism
      • Weather
      • Youth
    • Sports
      • All
      • Athletics
      • Cricket
      • Football
      • Watersports
    • Community
      • All
      • Tribute
    • Crime
    • Features
      • All
      • Today in History
    • Opinion/Commentary
    • Press Releases
      • All
      • Advertisements
      • Notices
  • Video
  • Notices & Vacancies
  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
No Result
View All Result
NOW Grenada
No Result
View All Result

Recalling the promise of improving lives and livelihoods through agriculture

This story was posted 3 years ago
16 October 2020
in Agriculture/Fisheries, Health, PRESS RELEASE
4 min. read
Dr Renata Clarke
Share

by Dr Renata Clarke
Sub-regional Coordinator of the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO)

It is a fact of human nature that nothing focuses our collective consciousness on our fundamental needs more than a crisis.

World War 2 and its immediate aftermath brought humanity face-to-face with an existential crisis like no other in modern history. In response, the nations of the world came together to focus on how we could facilitate rebuilding and meeting our most basic needs. The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) was born out of this recognition of a requirement for cooperation and unity to meet a common basic need: the need to be able to feed humanity. World Food Day 2020 (WFD) on Friday, 16 October marks the 75th anniversary of the founding of FAO.

This landmark WFD anniversary has arrived in the midst of the Covid-19 crisis. A crisis that has become increasingly complex affecting almost every aspect of our lives. The tourism and travel-based economies of the Caribbean have been very hard hit. We are seeing levels of unemployment that were unimaginable only a few months ago and loss of a major source of foreign exchange. A number of surveys verify the dire impact on food security. About one-third of the respondents to a survey, carried out by World Food Programme and the Caricom Secretariat in July 2020, reported either eating less or skipping a meal as a result of their reduced incomes and higher food prices. While many countries took actions to boost local food production in the early stages of the crisis, an ongoing FAO/Caricom survey on agricultural livelihoods, is showing that farmers and fisherfolk across the region faced disruptions of input supplies and of their marketing channels. In many cases this has led them to lose part of their production: food wastage in the midst of growing food insecurity.

Rather than a commemoration of FAO’s achievements over 75 years of existence, this article underlines FAO’s commitment, in the face of the mammoth challenges posed by this crisis, to work with countries to strengthen the role of agriculture sectors to enable recovery from the crisis. The objective is not for countries to ‘recover’ but to come out of this crisis in a better position than they were at the start.

There is truly a need for countries to transform food and agriculture systems. Many of the countries are highly food import-dependent; there are alarming rates of obesity – particularly female obesity – in many of the countries due to unhealthy diets; contribution of agriculture to GDP is low; in many countries there is loss of biodiversity, low productivity and inadequate investment in agriculture. Multiple manifestations of a dysfunctional food system.

FAO is committed to supporting this transformation process in a number of ways:

Reinforcing market-oriented approaches to value chain development by working across sector, with key actors, to systematically address competitiveness issues throughout the value chain. Actionable market, profitability and risk analyses are necessary to attract needed investments.

Promoting better collection and use of agricultural data and statistics without which there can be no meaningful planning or assessment. The Caribbean countries are notoriously data-poor.

Encouraging inclusive models of growth where the benefits are equitably shared among the actors along the value chains.

Promoting dynamism through innovation by utilising our global networks to enable identification and adaptation of innovative technologies that enhance efficiency and sustainability of smallholder agricultural production systems.

Strengthening domestic market linkages by working with countries to enhance cold chain, storage and processing infrastructure and also to establish better market information systems and digital platforms that better connect buyers with sellers.

Disseminating good practices in climate-smart agriculture: the challenges faced by farmers and fisherfolk due to Covid-19 disruptions were exacerbated by concurrent drought. We cannot lose sight of the imperative of being effective custodians of our natural resources.

Facilitating involvement of women and youth in agriculture and agri-business by working with institutions to ensure that agricultural programmes and services are responsive to their needs.

Enhancing the engagement of national institutions in the Caribbean in Global bodies making policies that govern various aspects of agriculture, natural resource management and trade in food and agricultural products.

The theme chosen for this WFD 2020 is “Grow, nourish, sustain. Together. Our actions are our future.” We need to act with urgency. We need to act together. We need to get this right.

NOW Grenada is not responsible for the opinions, statements or media content presented by contributors. In case of abuse, click here to report.
Tags: coronaviruscovid-19food and agriculture organisationrenata clarkeunited nationsworld food day
Next Post
Child Month 2020 celebrations have commenced

Child Month 2020 celebrations have commenced

Comments 1

  1. Jazmine Charles says:
    3 years ago

    When you gather with family for dinner each day, give thanks for the farmers.

    Reply

Comment on post Cancel reply

Please enter your valid email address.
Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

© NOW Grenada. All Rights Reserved. Published by Aqua Design Inc. | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy

No Result
View All Result
  • Front Page
  • Categories
    • General News
      • All
      • Agriculture & Fisheries
      • Arts & Culture
      • Business
      • Education
      • Environment
      • Health
      • History
      • Lifestyle
      • Law
      • Politics
      • Technology
      • Travel & Tourism
      • Weather
      • Youth
    • Sports
      • All
      • Athletics
      • Cricket
      • Football
      • Watersports
    • Community
      • All
      • Tribute
    • Crime
    • Features
      • All
      • Today in History
    • Opinion/Commentary
    • Press Releases
      • All
      • Advertisements
      • Notices
  • Video
  • Notices & Vacancies
  • Advertise
  • Contact Us

Copyright NOW Grenada

We are using cookies to give you the best experience on our website.

You can find out more about which cookies we are using or switch them off in settings. Visit our Privacy Policy | Terms of Use.

Powered by  GDPR Cookie Compliance
Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful. Visit our Privacy Policy | Terms of Use.

Strictly Necessary Cookies

Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.

If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.