“Put yuh money whey yuh mouth deh” is an expression that is often used in Guyana as a challenge to show commitment to what one says through one’s actions. Sadly, the money and the mouth rarely appear together. This is what appears to be the case with the Caribbean’s approach to food security. There are meetings, declarations, and expressions of determination to reduce the region’s dependence on imported food. Yet the urgency of the problem continues to outpace the response.
The latest call came from Food and Agriculture Organisation Assistant Director-General Rene Orellana Halkyer, who, addressing the opening of the 20th Caribbean Week of Agriculture in Jamaica, urged the region to move more quickly from commitment to implementation. The Caribbean has been talking about transforming its food systems for years. Why is it that in 2026, the message is still that implementation needs to accelerate? Why has it been so difficult to turn political commitments into measurable results?
In August 2022, Caricom Heads of Government pledged to reduce the region’s food import bill by 25 percent by 2025. That deadline came and went, and the initiative was extended to 2030 under what is now called ‘Vision 25 by 2025+5’. The extension was presented as a necessary recalibration in the face of global food prices, climate change and other difficulties, but in it was also the tacit acknowledgement that the original ambition was not achieved within the promised timeframe.
That is not to say that nothing was accomplished. Indeed, according to Caricom, regional food production increased by about 24 percent between 2022 and 2024, with Guyana leading the way. There have also been investments in infrastructure, technology, climate-smart agriculture, processing and other areas. But increasing production is not the same thing as achieving food security.
The Food and Agriculture Organization defines food security as having physical, social and economic access, at all times, to sufficient, safe and nutritious food. The World Bank identifies four dimensions to food security: availability, access, utilisation and stability. All four must be present and therefore the challenge is not simply about producing more. It is possible for a country or region to grow more food while people still struggle to afford it.
As a case in point, there are farmers in Guyana producing at optimum levels who are still unable to make a reasonable living because they have to depend on imported fertiliser, machinery and fuel. Compound this with severe weather such as the ‘super El Nino’ currently in effect and an even fuller picture emerges; one that should have made the 25 by 2025+5 initiative more urgent. Instead, there is the sense that it is doomed to suffer the same fate as the Caricom free movement initiative, which stewed for decades.
One of the central problems is the fragmentation in the region, which affects every aspect of life. With regard to agriculture, one country may be producing what another needs, but is unable to get it to that market efficiently. The obstacles to fully exploiting the potential this region possesses include transportation, logistics, different standards and regulations and, lest we forget, politics.
These are not new problems, nor are they insurmountable. Yet here we are unable to truly move beyond repeatedly identifying the same problems and decisively excising them.
With President Irfaan Ali as Caricom’s lead head of government for agriculture and food security, Guyana has both an opportunity and a responsibility. According to the Ministry of Agriculture there have been impressive increases in agricultural production, positioning Guyana as a major supplier to the Caribbean. The Department of Public Information quoted Minister within the Ministry of Agriculture Vickash Ramkissoon as stating that the country recorded 792,012 tonnes of agricultural output in the first half of 2026, the largest production volume among the Caricom states reporting data for that period.
The next steps must include helping to build the systems that allow more of that produce to reach both local and regional consumers sans excessive costs. The government needs to stop viewing agriculture merely as a sector into which it pours subsidies and support and see it as an economic system that requires investment and innovation. This might help more young people to consider it as a viable business rather than an occupation of last resort. Technology, too, must be used not simply because it sounds modern, but because it makes production more efficient, reduces losses and improves resilience.
Food security is not achieved when governments say that production has increased, but when people can consistently obtain enough safe, nutritious and affordable food, even in the midst of a climate crisis. This is doable. Guyana and the rest of the region together have resources and skills necessary to become a role model in food security; to withstand a major climate or geopolitical shock without immediately turning to international markets. The question is whether our governments are ready and willing to put their money where their mouths are and demonstrate that food security is more than rhetoric.
Discussion