...We can leave no one behind - FAO rep
MAKING AGRICULTURAL food systems climate resilient; scaling up production systems and productivity to meet demand; and improving food distribution and trade to ensure proper and timely linkages from farm to fork are issues that will be revisited at the 35th regional conference of the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) set for the Montego Bay Conference Centre in St James from next Monday, March 5, to Thursday, March 8.
Making these systems climate smart and resilient will be among the top agenda items, according to Dr Gillian Smith, acting FAO country representative for Jamaica, Belize and The Bahamas.
“We know the stories of 2017 in Grenada and Dominica, where in the space of a few hours, with hurricanes Irma and Maria, their agriculture production systems, trade routes and import routes were all irreparably damaged and populations passed from one day to the next into a state of extreme food insecurity,” she said.
CRUCIAL REGIONAL CONFERENCE
“It’s been 20 years since a regional conference has been in the Caribbean; 50 years since the regional conference was hosted by Jamaica. We’re expecting about 150 delegates. The delegations will all be led by ministers and they are going to be asked to deliberate on these key areas.”
She continued, “Food nutrition and security ; sustainable production and productivity growth, particularly in agriculture, forestry and fisheries; resilience and risk management of our agricultural food systems from farm to fork, and for the Caribbean importantly, Haiti. The question of how we move Haiti along as part of the region of the Caribbean. Haiti accounts for more than 50 per cent of the people who are hungry. For the Caribbean, they account for more percentage of the risk issues that we see and they have their issues with sustainability and growth. We can leave no one behind.”