The generous spread of emerging fruit and vegetable ‘markets’ throughout the country including evidence of a marked increase in new sellers at various viewing points across the capital and in parts of other regions, is one of the many manifestations of the aggressively pursue entrepreneurial options stemming from the economic downturn created by the start of Covid-19. This development is testament to the role that agriculture has played in our economic lives and, at times like these, our fruit and vegetables sprout even more as a significant nutritional option.
Granted, the general addiction arising from the coronavirus pandemic imposes understandable restrictions on our ability to celebrate International Year of Fruits and Vegetables
(IYFV) in the way we should. However, there are safe and creative ways we can go about doing that.
The testimonies of the farmers that the Stabroek Business has spoken to over the past year, about how their step-by-step fruit and vegetable production have maintained their livelihood during the pandemic have been a powerful reminder of the important role that fruits and vegetables play a role in our economic and nutritional lives. We’ve covered some stories about the new connections that have developed between rural farms, allowing fruit and vegetables to continue to reach consumers in urban communities at reasonable prices. We have also learned, to great credit, that the Guyana Marketing Corporation (GMC), in the face of the restrictions caused by the pandemic, has been able to facilitate the export of fruit and vegetables to countries in the rest of the region and to a lesser extent beyond. These developments, while rarely guaranteed mention in the local, regional or international media, nevertheless underscore the modest but important role that Guyana continues to play in the global response. wide to the challenges that have arisen since the inception of COVID -19.
Towards the end of 2020, the United Nations this year declared the International Year of Fruits and Vegetables, pronunciation, and highlighted the timeliness of the fact that it underlines the UN’s deliberate focus on agriculture and specifically on fruit and vegetables as a potential nutrient. ‘weapon’ in the fight against Covid-19. Since then the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) acting as the United Nations agent has disseminated a wealth of information about IYFV and its significance with particular emphasis on the role of fruit and vegetables in creating a more robust nutritional profile at a time when world health is under serious threat.
Apart from that, IYFV aims to create a global impetus for fruit and vegetables as part of the wider agricultural sector and encourage a national, regional and global emphasis on growing fruit and vegetables as even more lucrative opportunities to farming communities. There are significant opportunities here for Guyana’s agricultural sector.
Nearly three months into 2021 and although there is evidence that certain types of fruit and vegetables have become more prominent on the national diet profile, there is still no indication of a high-profile official plan for implementing a national program to identify IYFV.
Taking the opportunity that IYFV puts aside to try to expand the local and external market for fruit and vegetables, it also creates an opening not only to highlight our fruit and vegetable farmers but also for the planning and implementation of a long ‘curriculum’ year that aims to raise national levels of awareness of the nutritional role of fruit and vegetables.
Here, there are repercussions for our farmers, our export earnings and for our national nutritional profile. Raising awareness of the importance of fruit and vegetables can bring significant new and decisive benefits to the country in terms of farmers’ livelihoods as well as to the national disposition to eat fruit and vegetables.
When one takes into account just how much the nutritional profile and economic well-being of the farmers and the country as a whole can be derived from the effective introduction and delivery of a national IYFV program, Guyana has no excuse for doing so. do. After all, we are moving towards the end of the first quarter of 2021.