Agriculture in Caribbean vital to economic growth, sustainable development, says UN official

27 February 2015 – The head of the United Nations agriculture agency underlined yesterday the huge importance of agriculture and farming to countries of the Caribbean during an address to Heads of Government at the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) summit in the Bahamas.


“Strengthening agriculture and increasing support to small-scale and family farming will help ensure greater sufficiency in local food production, protecting your economies from external price shock,” the FAO Director-General, José Graziano da Silva, told the audience, noting the need to meet challenges like climate challenges and to create jobs, particularly for youth.

Mr. Graziano da Silva described agriculture and family farming as “drivers of inclusive economic growth and sustainable development,” and noted how they can create new employment opportunities and be linked to the tourism industry, an important source of revenue for many Caribbean countries.He stressed also the substantial progress made through efforts made in the past two decades by CARICOM members to combat hunger and malnutrition, with Barbados, Guyana, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Suriname among the 70 developing countries to have already met the Millennium Development Goals hunger target of halving the proportion of hungry people by 2015.


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