EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR of the Caribbean Agriculture and Research Development Institute (CARDI), Dr. Wendel Parham, is calling for an action plan to protect Caribbean food systems from the effects of natural disasters.
The action plan, he said, must identify the likely climate change scenarios and the production areas to be prioritised. He noted that careful consideration should be given to the development of high temperature resistant and high temperature preference varieties, establishing gene and seed banks to preserve diversity and restart agricultural production after disasters, as well as ways on how to increase shelf life.
Dr. Parham said attention should also be focused on projects to encourage more processing and packaging of foods to enhance attractiveness over imported varieties, as well as on research to control invasive species and new pests and diseases, soil and water management studies, and investments and research into environmental crop production.
THREE COUNTRIES BEING REVIEWED
"Jamaica, Guyana and Haiti are the three countries in this hemisphere that are being reviewed to look at the impacts of global environmental change on the agriculture and food sectors, what the potential impacts are, and if interventions were to be done, what would be the outcome of those interventions," he noted.
Dr. Parham said further that another project should be developed to secure planting reserves. "So, if a hurricane was to hit lets say Grenada as has happened, we would have reserves in Belize, or if it hits Jamaica we would have reserves in Guyana to try to secure the region's food security," he explained.
Climate change or global warming, refers to the change in weather patterns due to the build up of man-made gases in the atmosphere, which trap the sun's heat. The effects include changes in rainfall patterns, rise in sea level, potential droughts, habitat loss, and heat stress.
