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Bahamas Seek Alternatives For Imported Food Staples
Related to country: Bahamas

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Alternatives Sought For Imported Food Staples:
By Tameka Lundy -
Nassau, Bahamas:



As the price of staples like wheat, corn and rice balloon in some cases out of the reach of the world’s poor, agriculture and fisheries officials have been huddled in talks about how to use another starch as a substitute for local consumption.

Planners are now advocating that the cassava can become a crucial food item as the government attempts to address the matter of food security, an issue that has dominated worldwide attention.

Agriculture and Marine Resources Minister Larry Cartwright is backing efforts to bolster a viable cassava industry.

"This is not a new crop, but we can do so much more with it," he said. "As a nation, we face the unfortunate reality of our major staples being imported products such as wheat, corn and rice. Cassava is ideally suited as a substitute for these products, both for human consumption and for animal feed."

Cassava can be used to make chips, flour and pan cake mix. It is also ideal as animal feed.

High prices for commodities such as wheat, corn and rice, along with oil, have thrown U.S. and world markets into turmoil. The U.S. Department of Agriculture is forecasting sharp increases this year in U.S. food prices, expected to rise by 5 percent in the largest increase since 1990.

One assessment is that the global harvest outlook is troublesome as an onslaught of rain has threatened critical corn and soybean harvests. Meantime, Australian farmers face a drought and torrential rains threaten wheat and rice farmers in China.

One hundred and fifty countries around the world have endorsed the World Bank Group’s New Deal on Global Food Policy. The New Deal, embraces short, medium and long-term responses: including safety nets such as school feeding, food for work, and conditional cash transfers.

It also includes increased agricultural production; a better understanding of the impact of biofuels and action on the trade front to reduce distorting subsidies and trade barriers.

Minister Cartwright classified the provision of a local substitute for imported starches like rice and wheat as a major challenge.

"The government is therefore embarking on a sustained and deliberate campaign to increase the use of this versatile crop [cassava]," Mr. Cartwright said.

He also explained how officials intend to reach this target through a comprehensive industry development study which will explore the viability of growing cassava for human consumption animal feed, pharmaceuticals and biofuels.

"The Director of Agriculture is also working with small farmers to grow more cassava, based on pre-determined market demand," he said. "A public education campaign will support greater awareness and consumption of cassava."

Agriculture officials are also planning to promote the production and consumption of other locally grown starches like sweet potatoes as alternatives for rice and flour. To boost production, the Department of Agriculture intends to provide planting material and assist with land preparation.

Minister Cartwright said local farmers and fishermen can become the primary and most consistent solution to poverty and underdevelopment in rural areas and he pointed to the unrealized potential for providing food for tourism as a key means of reducing vulnerability as it relates to imports.

Eighty-five percent of the food consumed in The Bahamas is imported, with 80 percent of that amount coming from the United States, according to officials.

The Bahamas is a price taker when it comes to food costs because it produces so little of what its citizens comsume.

A major recent report conducted by 400 scientists and released at UNESCO headquarters said the way the world grows its food will have to change radically to better serve the poor and hungry if the world is to cope with a growing population and climate change while avoiding social breakdown and environmental collapse.

World Bank chief Robert B. Zoellick said the surge in food prices could push 100 million people in developing countries into deeper poverty.

In recent times, worries have lingered about high fuel and food prices. Commodity producers and countries that export commodities have done well, with some enjoying windfall gains. But commodity importers and consumers, especially in the poorest areas, have been feeling the pinch of higher prices on their purchasing power, resulting in food protests in countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America and the Caribbean.


June 11, 2008

June 11, 2008 | 11:50 PM Comments  0 comments

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