Shopping for food is becoming more expensive

Coming out of this year's Caricom Heads of Government Summit, regional governments "emphasised the need to provide the necessary budgetary support and incentives for investment in agriculture, particularly at this time."

In recent years agriculture in the Caribbean has been on the decline.

BBC Caribbean Interactive has been examining the issue as it relates to the region.

	Is 'back-to-the-land easier said than done?

Listen again to BBC Caribbean InterActive on the food crisis

How are you coping?

Are governments doing enough?

Is agriculture the answer?

Back in the 70s and 80s Black Bush Polder and Courantyne in Guyana were producing a lot of rice, coconut, fruits, vegetables and fresh fish. Parents and children were working the land together. There are plenty of open lands but more lazy people who don't want to dirty their hands. The young people want to go to the rum shop and dance to the music. Guyana is a rich and fertile land, it can produce a lot if citizens and the government can come together and do what was done in the 70s and 80s.
Annie-Guyana

The best way to solve this food crisis is for all Caribbean, South American and African nations to stop being dependent on Americans and Europeans for help. We need to start caring for our own well being. Throughout all the developing countries being a farmer is a bad stigma so to solve this backward thinking is to make agriculture a very lucrative and profitable labour… Until my country and other Caricom and Africom nations start caring about their own self-being this problem is going to get worse. Does any body know this? This is a fact. Africa can feed the entire world if their agriculture system was modernized. A small section in Haiti used to provide rice for the entire country but now it’s on very small scale. This free trade set by Europe and USA is also killing small farmers around the world because they can’t compete. Free trade is not in any favour for my country or any Caribbean, South American or African countries.
C.Richard
Cap-haitien, Haiti

For sure we have plenty of food in the Caribbean but the problem is that the people in charge of managing the food are not doing it properly. Therefore we have people dying from starvation in an island with plenty of food for every one. I think that every government in the Caribbean should get together and find a good solution to the main problems that are affecting our islands and our people.
Julio
Dominican Republic

There is little coordination in most countries around agriculture. If each island does not have a comprehensive strategy, a regional one is even more unlikely. I am not totally pessimistic; however this could be the impetus we need to get the CSME and other regional initiatives moving. It amazes me that we, in the region, still cannot see the benefits of 'ONE CARIBBEAN'. If all of Europe can come together, in spite of their differences, I just can't understand why the Caribbean is still dragging its feet after more than 50 years.
Orita Bailey
Basseterre, St.Kitts

Without a doubt, Guyana, Dominica and St. Vincent and the Grenadines have the capacity to feed the rest of Caricom. Therefore the question posed is rhetorical. It is critical for us to put action to all the talk taking place in the region. There is no room for negativity; instead we need to put our creative energies into finding the best approach as a region. This is evident through the proposed OECS Economic Union or even the sleeping CSME.
Nerissa Gittens
Kingstown, St.Vincent & the Grenadines

I think the only real way we can stomach these soaring food prices is to adjust our diets to eat mainly what is native to our homelands. This would mean, for example, eating fritters instead of waffles for a snack. The region is vulnerable to floods and hurricanes, and many pests and these are some of the major disincentives for pursuing agriculture among many West Indians.
Danielle
Commonwealth of Dominica

The food crisis has clearly demonstrated that food security is a most important aspect of any modern society. Caribbean countries must respond to this reality as the developed world does, that is, agricultural subsidies for basic products essential to the Caribbean diet must be put in place and staunchly defended.
Mark A Usher
Belize City, Belize

Politicians have been encouraging citizens to go into tourism sector. The young don't want dirty hands. In my country agriculture science is almost non-existent in schools.
Dwight Charles
Kingstown, Saint Vincent

Come on Joanna wake up… planting your own kitchen garden, eating Dasheen and Eddoes? Be real. Even if it were possible check the cost of 250 grams of ground provision compare that to 250 grams of rice. Plus the rice goes a much longer way than the provision. The imported cornflakes would still cost cheaper than Cassava farine.
R.Kalip
Trinidad & Tobago

This is in the making by big agriculture companies from Europe & USA to destroy the food market in developing countries. Haiti have plenty of food don't be fooled by the media but food is very very expensive cause most product are exported and in USD value, anyway all Caricom leaders are bunch of puppets for Europe and USA government; serve no interest for their own country security. Hopefully when every country start rioting like us maybe the government would listen. Every Caribbean country can feed itself but lack of technology and interest is destroying that market.
C.Richard
Cap-Haitien,Haiti

I believe that the countries of Caricom should take what George Lamming said recently in Antigua and Barbuda very seriously and start looking at how they can help themselves with their own resources spread across the territories. Guyana’s land mass with Trinidad and Tobago's oil wealth and the manpower resources of Jamaica will go a long way towards eventual unity in currency and the economy.
Caudley George
St Johns, Antigua and Barbuda

The Caribbean region has not been serious about commercial agriculture. Imagine that in the 21st century most of the agriculture is still rain-fed. We have divided up the viable large estates into uneconomical parcels of land and given the land to mostly uneducated farmers. Is there any surprise that today we are unable to attract large capital intensive agricultural ventures? Also we seem to want to grow all crops in all islands instead of coming up with a comprehensive plan to do agriculture in a way that takes into account the comparative advantages each island has going for it. The land tenure situation and the lack of scientific approach to modern agriculture has put the Caribbean in the situation it is in despite the more developed countries giving a lot of financial and other help to modernize agriculture in the region. There is a need for a drastic turn-a-round in the agriculture sector if the Caribbean is to overcome the challenges we now face.
Jonathan
USA

Agriculture is the way to go. But the Caribbean is in denial. They think importing food is ok while our young men are playing dominos all day. Young men in our region seem to just want to get a mic to dj the problems in the region but they are not attached to the action plans that will bring real economic change. If the Caribbean were really united they could surprise the world with the level of productivity they could generate in the agricultural sector. But agriculture does not have a good reputation in the mind of our youth. They see agriculture as a backward practice. In fact if any one is engaged in agriculture, he is seen as "country man". As long as this problem remains we will carry the weight of food crisis around the world. Government must add some value to the practice of agriculture by modernising the sector and engaging in big scale and targeted farming according to geographical zones.
Jean Louinel
Mandeville, HAITI/JAMAICA

At the individual level families can begin planting their own gardens. Seasonings that we buy on a weekly basis: thyme, chive parsley. Other food stuff: lettuce, tomatoes, different types of peppers, cauliflower. Fruit trees that grow year-round: orange, grapefruit. The average person may not be able to grow staples in their yard, but by planting the little we are able to, we actually subsidize our own groceries. We need to make use of our local produce also. For example, cassava to make farine which can be used as breakfast cereal instead of the ready-made cereals we get in the groceries. We can limit our weekly rice intake by using provisions as the staple dish.
The demands we make on our governments such as subsidizing and using land for agriculture are things we can definitely do on an individual/family/community level.
Joanna
Trinidad & Tobago

Countries like St Vincent & The Grenadines will have to buck up on their agriculture sector to help out the rise in food costs. They also need to find a solution to drop back the cost of flour...Private businesses can help out by sourcing cheaper products to put on the shelves.
Tequila Ross
Barrouallie, St Vincent & the Grenadines

In my country many years ago a leader said "let's grow more food." We have since been playing politics, we have lost the plot, and instead of growing more we continue to fight each other. It is sad to see the quantity of land we have and still have to pay so much for food. It is not too late to make a turn-around, grow more was viable then, and can be viable now.
Abiose Thomas
Georgetown, Guyana

I don’t think that one should be a rocket scientist to realise that going back to the land is important for the growth of our country. In my opinion the government should provide possible means to enable the farmers to establish themselves in an effort to make food cheaper to the people. We have a college on the island where students study agriculture. However there is no gain in that whatsoever!!! If the government provide incentives for students and interested persons to focus on agriculture we can develop as a country. It is important that we can feed our people first. We must consider the increase in food prices and the number of poor people in St Lucia who cannot afford to even by a loaf of bread. I believe that St Lucia can develop if only we start focusing on effective!
We have gathered all our eggs in one basket by focusing only on tourism. We need to diversify. We need to change our mentality, be more concerned about what we can do for our country and think less of what our country can do for us.
P. Johnson
Castries, St Lucia

There is a lot of talk about agriculture and imports-export. Well we need a certain amount of imports to sustain our tourism plant. For those of you who have taken a cruise, the variety and amount of food made available to tourists is amazing, so to compete for the tourism dollar we need imports. On the local level islanders need to buy local and eat local, keep our money circulating at home. Dehydrate your fruits and veggies and export them, don't let food rot on the ground.
V.Vitalis
St. Lucia

One wonders why the advocates of farming that all seem to know that the Caribbean is abundant in unused land don't just head on down and get rich farming. Very few of the Caribbean islands have a ghost of a chance of succeeding at farming; Guyana maybe? Furthermore islands have upwards of 30% of the labour in agriculture relative to 2% in the agricultural super-powers of Holland and the USA.
Millicent Wilson
Kingston, Jamaica

I am fed up hearing this phrase 'back to the land'. Where is the agricultural land to farm? There is no zoning, they are gone! They have been used for residential purposes. Most countries in Caricom share a common history and language and we still can't have a common currency, travel using an ID and more so work without a permit in another country. Do you really believe that Caribbean leaders can come up with concrete policies in tackling high food prices? They may, but it will take a long time to be implemented or never will.
Nilio Gumbs
Kingstown, St.Vincent

Back to the land for starters, because increases in the world population will bring increases in world prices which thus have an long term upward trend
Arne Barendregt
Willemstad, Curacao N.A.