THERE IS A CRITICAL NEED for a Caribbean Food Plan among the countries in the region says Inter-American Institute for Co-operation on Agriculture director general Chelston Brathwaite.

Brathwaite made the suggestion at Wednesday's National Forum On Agriculture – Food Sovereignty, Security And Nutrition: Agriculture Our Future at Sherbourne Conference Centre, Two Mile Hill, St Michael.

He said the plan needed to take into account land reform, a regional freight system to transport goods, an insurance plan to cover farmers who lose crops and regional storage facilities.

"We cannot afford not to have food stocks because of our vulnerability to hurricanes. We must remember the case of Ivan in Grenada, where after there was very limited availability of food in that Caribbean island.

"We must develop a Caribbean Food Bank that links regionally and allows us to take advantage of the synergies of our common market and economy," he said.

No excuse

Brathwaite said there was no excuse for Caribbean countries to import certain food products, "and we must promote regional enterprises in livestock, poultry, cereals, tropical fruits, root crops and vegetables".

"We must find ways of producing more tropical fruits to use . . . . To import food concentrate is not something that we should be doing," he added. (TM)