Remarks by World Food Programme Representative at Caribbean Week Of Agriculture 2023 Launch

Mr. Regis Chapman, Representative and Country Director of the World Food Programme (WFP), on Friday made remarks at the launch of the 17th Caribbean Week of Agriculture (CWA). The CWA will be held in Nassau, The Bahamas, 9-13 October 2023 under the theme ‘Accelerating Vision 25 by 2025’.

Please read his remarks below:

It’s a pleasure to be here with you representing the World Food Programme’s Multi Country Office for the Caribbean which covers the English and Dutch-speaking Caribbean and it’s great to be here on another Caribbean week of agriculture.  This year it’s particularly important given the current food security situation. We currently estimate that there’s some 3.7 million food-insecure people in the English-speaking Caribbean as of May 2023 compared to only 1.7 million just at the start of the pandemic in April 2020.

We’re seeing food insecurity rise for a number of reasons linked to the early days of COVID-19 mitigation measures and more recently the impact of the war in Ukraine’s global food price and energy price crisis.

And the Caribbean Week of Agriculture is extremely important for the region. It’s a great platform to really advocate for the vision of 25 by 2025 collaborating with stakeholders across the entire value chain. Now at the WFP Caribbean Multi Country Office, we’re in technical discussions with a number of partners from the CARICOM Secretariat to national governments and we’re looking forward to the action steps that will emerge from this year’s Caribbean Week of Agriculture.

WFP commits to ongoing support for CARICOM, the Vision 25 by 25 and Caribbean Food Security. We look forward to strengthening food systems through our expertise in supply chain management and food system strengthening, which coupled with our work in strengthening social protection and disaster management systems can bolster the 25 by 25 initiative.

Source: CARICOM TODAY