GUYANA is once again leading the way for the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) to adopt a comprehensive response approach to deal with the current global food price increase.

This is being emphasized with the hosting of the 27th Special Meeting of the Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED) on Agriculture that has been organised, based on a request made by Guyana.

The meeting to be held from May 19 to 21 in Guyana includes a special forum for Ministers of Agriculture to discuss the rising cost of food situation and its impact on the region. The Ministerial forum is scheduled to take place on Wednesday, May 21 at Le Meridien Pegasus, Georgetown .

Minister of Agriculture Robert Persaud had written to CARICOM Secretary-General Edwin Carrington requesting such a forum where the region’s policy makers can review the types of interventions made in each state, share experiences, learn from each other and initiate further responses.

“It is an important meeting because it will allow Ministers of Agriculture to review what is taking place across the region, to share experiences and also possibly to come up with some specific activities which would allow us as individual governments and the region as a whole to respond to the ongoing food price escalation and its impact on cost of living,” Minister Persaud said.

It was pointed out that the food price increase is a global phenomenon and the states are obligated to work together and share resources to ensure an effective response to mitigate the impact of the situation on the respective populations.

The meeting also has great significance for Guyana because of the country’s tremendous opportunities in food production for the region and taking into account CARICOM’s import bill, which was previously US$3.5B annually.

It is more than likely that this has since increased significantly as a result of the current food price increases.

“This offers a number of opportunities and possibilities for our farmers and having the meeting here, it will allow us to further some of our proposals that we have made to the region and further afield in terms of investment and possibilities in agriculture for food production for the region and beyond,” the Minister pointed out.

He added that the meeting “will allow us to look at what is taking place in our various agriculture sectors, to see how we can work together, how we can invite further support and review the types of interventions that we have been making individually and see where we can learn from each other.”

Additionally, the Agriculture Ministers will seek to address some of the constraints facing exporters in terms of accessing some CARICOM markets. In this regard, issues such as the sanitary and phyto-sanitary requirements in place will be discussed.

The responses made by the Government of Guyana to cushion the impact of the rising cost of food on Guyanese have engaged the attention of various regional and international stakeholders who have lauded the approach.

Among the interventions made by the administration are salary increase, cost of living adjustment, increase in the income tax threshold and old age pension, flour distribution to vulnerable groups and zero-rating of excise tax on diesel.

The excise tax on gas has been reduced while there is no tax or duty on kerosene and cooking gas and no restriction on flour import. In addition, there has been the launch of the ‘Grow-More’ campaign which entails distribution of seeds, planting materials, ant baits and chemicals.