Caribbean & Central America - April 2025

In February Guyana’s President Irfaan Ali, who also coordinates Caribbean Community (Caricom) initiatives on agriculture and food security, told a meeting of regional leaders in Georgetown that despite some progress Hurricane Beryl and global supply chain disruption was continuing to disrupt efforts to improve nutrition in the Caribbean region.

The overall campaign to improve access to food and nutrition across the Caribbean goes by the name of “25 by 2025”. It was launched in 2022 proposing to reduce the US$6bn regional food import bill by 25% by the end of this year. Reliable data on progress made so far has yet to be compiled but Ali nevertheless spoke of significant advances.

He said that during the period running from 2022 to October/November 2024 there had been a 24% increase in regional food production. He highlighted investment in infrastructure including cold storage, farm-to-market access roads, dryer facilities, bank loan approvals and the establishment of dairy facilities. He argued that the region was on the right track to build a resilient sustainable and competitive industry that would encourage participation by young people and women.

A United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) report on food security in Latin America and the Caribbean, published in January, offers some context. It notes that second only to Asia, nearly three-quarters of LAC countries are exposed to extreme weather events. In 2023 41m people in LAC suffered from hunger down by 6.6% on 2022. But there were big disparities between regions. The proportion of Caribbeans suffering hunger has increased over the last two years to 17.2% of the population, while it remained stable in Mesoamerica, at a much lower 5.8%.

Hunger and food insecurity

According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) report on food security in Latin America and the Caribbean, published in January, overall, the number of people living with hunger and food insecurity across LAC has fallen over the last two years. The UN attributes this to economic recovery, social protection programmes, and efforts to improve food access. Extreme weather, hurricanes, and limited fiscal room for manoeuvre nevertheless make it particularly difficult for Caribbean countries to tackle malnutrition.