As Guyana joined in the observances of World Food Day 2009, Agriculture Minister Robert Persaud urged that the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) to take a hard look at locally grown and produced foods, particularly since Guyana has embarked on a programme to assist the region in attaining food security.

Guyana’s Minister of Agriculture, Robert Persaud

Persaud, during a World Food Day activity here, said it is very worrying that the region through its actions and policies seems to prefer importing food rather than using locally grown produce.

“It is my opinion that such problems have arisen in the Caribbean region because we, as a people, have moved away from our traditional nutritious foods and have embraced a lifestyle, including the foods, subtly suggested to us through a blitz of TV advertising,” Persaud said. (more…)

Friday, October 16th was World Food Day.  World Food Day is celebrated every year around the world on 16 October in honor of the date of the founding of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in 1945. It is also the Food Engineer day.  Food engineering is a multidisciplinary program which combines science, microbiology, and engineering education for food and related industries. Food engineering includes, but is not limited to, the application of agricultural engineering and chemical engineering principles to food materials.

The World Food Day theme for 2009 was “Achieving food security in times of crisis”.  With an estimated increase of 105 million hungry people in 2009, there are now 1.02 billion malnourished people in the world, meaning that almost one sixth of all humanity is suffering from hunger.

Let us work together to make sure hunger is recognized as a critical problem, and solve it.  The World Summit on Food Security is proposed by FAO for November 2009.