The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The Bahamas must “bite the demon of food insecurity in the butt”, an agriculture entrepreneur urged yesterday, after it was revealed that close to one in five residents recently suffered from limited access to food.

Caron Shepherd, the Bahamas Agro Entrepreneurs Group’s president, told Tribune Business it was “mandatory” that this country “step it up” in the fight against hunger after a United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) study found that 17.2 percent of Bahamians suffered “moderate to severe food insecurity” between 2019-2021 at COVID-19’s height.

While The Bahamas was far from the most food insecure nation in the Western Hemisphere, with just 3.4 percent (around 18,000) of the population found to have experienced “severe” problems during that period, she added that these concerns were worsened by the fact that this country has the region’s greatest level of obesity among its adult population.

The FAO report found that that 31.6 percent of Bahamian adults, close to one-third, were deemed obese. Ms Shepherd said The Bahamas was facing a vicious cycle, where the country was not growing sufficient food to feed itself and this, in turn, resulted in low and middle income persons struggling to afford nutritious, healthy food while making them more vulnerable to imported inflation.

“The deficiency we have in food is so great in terms of feeding ourselves it’s almost getting to a critical point where we are getting foods that are not healthy,” Ms Shepherd told this newspaper. “One of the main reasons we have all these non-communicable diseases is the mere fact people are eating such foods. They’re not cooking any more.

“One one hand we have the deficiency of not growing the food, and on the other hand we have escalating non-communicable diseases. Persons are taking the easy way out, going to the fast food restaurants, getting a quick bite here, there and everywhere, and it’s working against us.

“If we are able to improve our food production process we would be able to afford the foods we need. Because of insufficient local production, the prices are higher than we expect. If we increased local production, it would bring down the cost and make it easier for people to afford and buy natural foods. We have to bite this demon in the butt and get it done. We have to.”

Food security concerns became a prominent topic following the border closures, both in The Bahamas and internationally, that were imposed at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. This nation relies on imports for 90 percent of its food needs, with the annual bill estimated at $1bn. The Davis administration has made addressing the issue one of its policy goals since taking office.

And, while food insecurity concerns may have eased following the pandemic, they have not been eliminated. The Bahamas Feeding Network confirmed pre-Christmas that it is still providing up to 100,000 meals a month, supporting more than 100 local feeding programmes.

Ms Shepherd, asserting that the key is to improve productivity among Bahamian farmers, said: “We have to step it up and put in place the necessary factors to produce our own food on a larger scale. It’s mandatory. We have to do it. We’re not only feeding ourselves but the tourists coming in. We need to be able to do it.

“Look at the cost of eggs in the food store - $7-$8 for a carton of a dozen eggs. Look at the price of chicken. Everything has increased and it has escalated to the point where the average person cannot go into the food store and buy a decent meal. They’re limited. Persons have to go into the food store every day because funds are not coming in as anticipated, so they have to eat the quickest and easiest thing, and that’s not the best.”

An unhealthy adult population also means a less productive workforce, which acts as a drag on businesses and the economy. Ms Shepherd said there were too many Bahamians, aged in their 20s and 30s, suffering from high blood pressure, hypertension and diabetes as a result of unhealthy eating and sedentary lifestyles, which was driving obesity.

“Food insecurity will continue to rise due to the food and fuel price crisis caused by the conflict in Ukraine and the aftermath of COVID-19,” said Lola Castro, the World Food Programme’s regional director. “We must act now, but how can we do it?

“Supporting governments to expand social protection networks because the pandemic once again demonstrated that social protection is useful to improve the affordability of a healthy diet, preventing crises like this from hitting affected populations even more”.

“We are talking about the region of the world with the most expensive healthy diet, which particularly affects vulnerable populations – small farmers, rural women, and indigenous and Afro-descendant populations – who allocate a greater percentage of their income to the purchase of food,” said IFAD regional director, Rossana Polastri.

“To reverse this situation we must promote innovative solutions that diversify production and increase the supply of healthy food, and that improve small producers’ access to markets and quality food, including digital solutions that articulate food supply and demand.”