Food Security

This according to David Ram, acting chairman of the World Food Day National Committee of Trinidad and Tobago and Director of the Extension, Training and Information Services Division of the Ministry of Agriculture, Land and Fisheries.

Ram stated the committee’s aim was to make the public aware of climate change, how agriculture must change, what each citizen could do to address the issue, and to help drive government policy on agriculture.

“Because of industrialisation, deforestation and more emissions of greenhouse gases, there is a faster rate of climate change.

As a result of that we are seeing more intense storms, severe dry weather, severe rains, warming of sea temperatures and more,” he said.

Ram noted climate change was a long term issue caused mainly by carbon dioxide and methane from industry and normal human activity, including agriculture itself as it contributes to greenhouse gasses via the rotting of food, and animal waste.

Therefore, he said the committee was looking into systems that could be put in place to make sure the country has food while minimising further contributions to climate change. “Food security and food nutrition is a complex discussion. Should something happen in the global environment, we can’t depend on what is on the shelves to feed us so we have to put systems in place to ensure that we have enough of the different food groups,” he said.

To the average consumer, he suggested that people buy only what they need, not to waste food, practice composting, and begin preserving food.

In meeting their mandate to educate the public as well as farmers, and to train farmers in new technologies, The Extension, Training and Information Services Division has been conducting several training programmes and education initiatives.

Ram stated the ministry had printed materials on good agriculture practices including hygiene, pesticides, and the environment, to make sure the products were acceptable to the consumer.

It also developed a training course on aquaculture, fish farming, as well as demonstrations, fact sheets and manuals. He said this was done because 50,000 people in coastal areas depend on fishing to make a living, and warmer surface temperatures due to climate change mean less fish.

Aquaculture would allow less harvesting from the sea.

Ram added that the ministry’s Research Division, Engineering Division, Agriculture Services Division, and others all contribute and play a part in averting climate change.

For example, he said the Animal Product and Health Division was developing a Public Sector Investment Programme (PSIP), to begin in 2017, on how to treat animal waste and recycle the manure in the fields. A PSIP in fisheries called Climate Change Adaptation in the Eastern Caribbean Fisheries Sector, demonstrated alternative methods to ensure sustainability. The Forestry Division also conducts a PSIP because, in the last decade TT lost more acreage due to forest fires (excluding bush fires) than any other time.

Among other topics, farmers were also being trained in new irrigation technologies, methods of water conservation, how to maintain their small gas engines to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and how to ensure that waste from farms was properly managed.

FAO Contribution One of the issues the government isolated was conserving biodiversity by setting up a protected areas system and enhancing capacity and finance for conservation management. Therefore, it has partnered with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FA O/ UN) on the “Improving Forest and Protected Area Management in Trinidad and Tobago” project.

Celeste Chariandy, Technical Officer, Improving Forest and Protected Area Management, FA O/UN representation for TT and Suriname, noted that several pilot areas had already been identified, including the Caroni Swamp, Nariva Swamp, Matura Forest, and the Main Ridge in Tobago.

Chariandy explained the fouryear pilot project, which began in 2015, was about a multi-dimensional approach to management.

“The approach that is being undertaken is to have a more participatory approach towards identifying the issues that pertain to these protected areas and being able to address these challenges so that you have better management,” she said.

They brought various stakeholders together including policy- makers, farmers, conservationists, and extension officers who liaised with the farmers.

The extension officers know the farmers in their district, help them to adapt to new methods, give advice as to the chemicals and systems they could use that would not negatively affect the environment, build awareness of incentives offered by government, and generally give advice on how to deal with farming around these protected areas.

Each of the stakeholders understand their own perspective so they all work together, and share that understanding to produce solutions. She said sometimes people find it difficult to see the link between protected areas and food production.

However, she noted that a few years ago in the Nariva Swamp, there were areas where persons practised illegal agriculture. River courses were manipulated, trees were removed, water was contaminated by chemicals, and other issues emerged.

“Agriculture is a needed activity in TT . Currently we do have a lot of agriculture taking place in and around this protected area. The idea is not to simply say, ‘Well this is protected so we need to get that kind of activity out of there.’ We need to have a more coordinated approach to addressing that balance between food production and sustainable management of the protected area. It’s not about stopping agriculture but encouraging sustainable agriculture,” she said.

With respect to climate change, Chariandy explained that simple measures such as better harvesting, storage, packing, transport, infrastructure, and market mechanisms could make an impact.

“The whole system that is involved in food production, all the way to when it gets to market, involves some release of greenhouse gases. If it is removal of trees when you are planting or putting your stuff into a van and transporting it to the market, there are various ways in which you contribute to greenhouse gases.

When food wastage occurs, this contribution multiples because there is a greater demand, you may be making more trips, and so on, all along the chain,” she explained.

“By emphasising proper storage, proper handling, proper packaging, proper management of food, you may not, on the surface, see the link with climate change, but when you realise that each of those cost in some way, then a simple thing like minimising food wastage will go a long way in reducing the impact of climate change,” she added.

Therefore, Chariandy said ordinary citizens could reduce their contribution to climate change by doing simple things such as buying only what they need, stop the wasting of fo od, and rely less on groceries.

She said the FA O planed to visit green markets in order to share information with farmers, vendors, and the public on a number of topics including building ponds on land for water supply, how to plant on hillsides, container gardening, and upright gardening.