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  • 1 year ago
Two people from academia have teamed up to delve into the issues surrounding food security in the Caribbean. Better yet, they have made several recommendations to address the problems in their new book Food Security and the Caribbean.


Alicia Boucher has the highlights from the launch.
Transcript
00:0040 million people in the Caribbean region heavily relying on imported food.
00:05Dean of the Faculty of Food and Agriculture at the University of the West Indies, Professor
00:09Mark Widivara, puts the level of reliance at over 80 percent.
00:14With that, he says, people are consuming a lot of processed foods which are high in sugars,
00:19fats and salts.
00:21As a result, the region now has one of the highest rates of obesity in the Americas.
00:30And there are, as a consequence, heightened incidences of non-communicable diseases such
00:36as diabetes and hypertension.
00:39It's one of the many aspects, including the issue of climate change, addressed in the
00:43book Food Security in the Caribbean, Historical Perspectives, Current Challenges and Sustainable
00:49Solutions.
00:50The book, which was launched on October 15 in commemoration of World Food Day, was written
00:55by former FAA lecturer at U.E. St. Augustine, Dr. Lystra Fletcher-Poole, and campus registrar
01:01at U.E. Mona, Jamaica, Dr. Donovan Stanbury.
01:05The eight-chapter book dives deep into policies relating to food security, the state of food
01:10security in the region, the availability and the utilization of food, etc.
01:15In his review of the book, lecturer at the FAA U.E. St. Augustine campus, Dr. Ronald
01:20Rupnerine, outlines accessibility as another pertinent issue discussed, and the impediments
01:26such as poverty, underemployment and price.
01:29So the recommendations there include implementing safe social safety nets targeted at subsidies
01:34to ensure vulnerable populations have access to nutritious food.
01:38The authors also call for regional strategies to tackle poverty and unemployment.
01:43And the fact is that a lot of our issues attached to food security, particularly in
01:47terms of access, is tightly linked to economic development or your ability to purchase and
01:53buy, right?
01:54So they spoke about strengthening regional trade.
01:58This to me is critical.
02:00That's contained in the final chapter, which provides a strategic roadmap by way of recommendations
02:05to the plethora of problems surrounding food security.
02:08According to Dr. Fletcher-Pohl, there are many troubling statistics, including youth
02:13unemployment, which she states as double the amount of adult unemployment.
02:19Also troubling is the prevalence of overweight and obesity in children and adolescents, which
02:25in some cases was almost twice that of adults.
02:30And also female obesity was higher than male obesity.
02:34She notes that it comes at a high cost if NCDs are involved, with the Inter-American
02:39Development Bank putting the figure for treating diabetes, hypertension and cancer in this
02:44country at $8.7 billion.
02:47The book is available for purchase on Amazon.
02:51Alicia Boucher, TV6 News.
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