A strong and targeted change in private investment is urgently needed to curb the Caribbean’s rising food import bill and drive long-term economic transformation, agriculture minister Dr Shantal Munro-Knight has said, warning that incremental approaches will not deliver the scale of change required.

Addressing the opening ceremony of the Regional Food Systems Investment Forum at the Hilton Barbados Resort, Dr Munro-Knight pointed to the region’s growing dependence on imported food as evidence that a more ambitious and investment-driven approach is needed.

Referring to the CARICOM initiative to reduce the region’s food import bill by a quarter by 2025, she said: “When CARICOM announced the 25 by 25 and then later 25 by 25 plus 5, it was about a recognition that we needed again to advance the issue of food security in a big and single way.”