THE issue of food security for the region not only meant being able to provide food to feed the population but it also meant providing healthy and nutritious diets, said Reuben Roberston, Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) representative for TT and Suriname.

He was speaking at a webinar on Thursday afternoon put on by the Faculty of Food and Agriculture at the University of the West Indies, in collaboration with the Catholic Commission for Social Justice and the Archdiocese's ministry for migrants and refuges. The discussion was themed Food Security and Environmental Impacts.

Robertson said food was a fundamental human right but accessing a healthy and nutritious diet in the region was expensive for the average person to access.

Robertson said in the Caribbean, food was the most expensive thereby many populations were unable to afford a healthy diet.

'The self-sufficiency we are looking for is to ensure that all people at all times have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food.

'For years we have been focusing on food and nutrition security, but are we in a position to have food that is affordable and healthy?

'We have been focusing on food and not so much on the nutritional content of the food that we provide to the populace. How do we make healthy diets available and at a good cost?'

Robertson said while the region's food basket was sustained through some domestic productions, the majority was derived from imports, which was reflected in almost US$6 billion import bill annually.

'Our high levels of food imports, primarily the processed foods contribute to some significant challenges. These foods are much cheaper, but they have higher contents of sugar, salt and fat, contributing significantly to the high levels of non-communicable diseases.

'Even our own domestic food production we have been focusing on foods that meet our needs but not necessarily nutritious and diets needs. Our production systems continue to be fragmented and not linked to healthy diets.'

Robertson pointed out that a lack of finances to fund agriculture programmes and meaningful investments have been a barrier for food accessibility and healthy diets.

The impacts of covid19, he said, and the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war impacted the accessibility to food and exacerbated the disruption of value chains and supply and demand, resulting in high food prices.

Robertson said while countries in the Caribbean were pressed to transform their agri systems to make it more resilient, equitable, inclusive and sustainable, governments and agencies should pay attention to the data that pointed high costs of healthy diets and rectify it in the shortest possible time.