“Go back to the bowl and avoid the box”- Pres Ali talks up food security

Last Updated on Monday, 18 March 2024, 20:59 by Denis Chabrol

President Irfaan Ali addressing the opening of Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) Regional Conference for Latin America and the Caribbean.

President Irfaan Ali on Monday appealed to people in the Caribbean and Latin America to return to the days of taking home-cooked food to work and school and reduce their dependence on fast foods.

“How do we ensure that the next generation just don’t eat but eat food with greater nutritional value? How do we go back to the bowl and avoid the box? Many of you grew up going to school with your food bowl, especially in this region, in the CARICOM region,” he told the opening of the 38th Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) Regional Conference for Latin America and the Caribbean.

He reminisced that a few decades ago, the food bowl contained freshly cooked food “in your homes with the full nutritional value.” At the same time, he lamented the shift to fast foods which he noted also harms the environment. “Today, we’ve moved away from the bowl and we gone to the box, creating many difficulties; not only nutritional but environmental issues,” he said.

The drainage system is overloaded with plastic bags, food boxes, plastic drink bottles and other items that make up most take-away food packages from restaurants, food vendors and fast-food enterprises.

With two billion people globally suffering from malnutrition and the need for 60 percent more food to feed the world’s population by 2050,  the Guyanese leader said conflict, war and climate-related events would affect food production and transportation. He specifically noted that if the Russia-Ukraine war drags, 600 million people would be chronically undernourished by 2030.

“If we don’t invest in dealing with the issue of malnutrition, then the consequential social and health costs is so much that it’s about US$20 trillion which is more than double the cost of food consumption so why not address the root cause of the problem which is food consumption,” he said.

The President also urged delegates to match words about food security with the political will to tangibly support initiatives. He also recommended that Latin America and the Caribbean find ways of storing large amounts of grains to take avoid price shocks due to war and other reasons. “The same emphasis that is placed on energy security, security for fuel….food is so important so why can’t we place the same level of seriousness on investing in facilities that will allow us to store to avoid shocks,” he said. Dr Ali recommended that farmers be paid reasonable prices for their grains to avoid dumping and use technology to store food.

Dr Ali also appealed to international financial institutions to provide loans at lower interest rates to support food production systems.

Guyana, he said, was also relying on Brazil to improve logistics and technology for the benefit of the Caribbean.