For the past three days, through today, heads of state and government and other leaders of the 15-nation Caribbean Community (CARICOM) have been meeting in Georgetown, Guyana at the Agri-Investment Forum and Expo to discuss how to reach the goal they have set for themselves of increasing food production by 2025 in order to reduce the region’s food import bill by 25%—a goal known as “25 x 2025.” The region is food import-dependent with a current annual import bill of $6 billion. Hosted by the government of Guyana, under the title “Investing in Vision 25 by 2025,” the gathering included not only political leaders but foreign and local investors, agricultural machinery producers, policymakers, farmers, food distributors and development partners.
From all reports, Forum participants from within and outside CARICOM were enthusiastic about the three days of intense dialogue, and saw many opportunities for regional and extra-regional collaboration. Given the current global crisis of food price inflation and rising costs and scarcity of fertilizer, gasoline and other inputs, they certainly understood that the goal of freeing up $6 billion through increased food production by 2025 is a challenging one. Caribbean nations are under great financial stress, many struggling still with the economic and social effects of the Covid pandemic while their economies shrink.
