Issues in Caribbean Food Security: Building Capacity in Local Food Production Systems

Wild Food Harvest, Food Security, and Biodiversity Conservation in Jamaica: A Case Study of the Millbank Farming Region

“…To strengthen domestic food systems in Jamaica, sensitivity to local food knowledge is an absolute imperative. Local knowledge remains one of the most important resources available to poor farmers (Beckford, 2012;de Medeiros et al, 2021). In part, this research proposes a bottomup approach to highlight the role of local knowledge in key food production systems that contribute to food heritage and farming households' livelihood security.…”

“…Parry (1955, p. 19-20) goes so far as to suggest that, "Without the institution of slave provision grounds, without the constant search for crops to stock those grounds, emancipation, in the form which it took in Jamaica, would have been economically and socially very difficult, perhaps impossible." Beckford (2012) posits that solutions to food security challenges facing the Caribbean should incorporate the (re)discovery of traditional foods for popularization and (re)inclusion in local diets. With reference to Jamaica, the author also observed a pattern of diminishing dietary diversity, alongside erosion of traditional and wild foods from local diets.…”

“…Previous research on food security in the Caribbean have primarily focused on historical and contemporary institutional constraints on domestic food production (Campbell, 2011;Beckford, 2012;Saint Ville et al, 2017a,b) and agricultural innovation (Lowitt et al, 2015) in local food systems (Gumbs, 1981;Timms, 2006;Beckford and Campbell, 2013). There is a dearth of phenomenological research on food security and wellbeing among rural households across the region.…”

Migration, Small Farming and Food Security in the Caribbean: Jamaica and St. Vincent and the Grenadines

“…This indicator focuses on food deprivation and looks at the minimum level of dietary energy consumption (FAO, 2015a). Jamaica and St. Vincent both inherited polarized agricultural structures: a centrally managed and supported export sector dominated by sugar in Jamaica and bananas in St. Vincent; and a generally neglected small farm sector producing fruit and vegetables and tubers for the domestic market and household subsistence (Beckford, 2011;Weis, 2004). St. Vincent also achieved the WFS target of achieving a reduction in the number of undernourished in the population (Ibid).…”

“…St. Vincent also achieved the WFS target of achieving a reduction in the number of undernourished in the population (Ibid). Jamaica and St. Vincent both inherited polarized agricultural structures: a centrally managed and supported export sector dominated by sugar in Jamaica and bananas in St. Vincent; and a generally neglected small farm sector producing fruit and vegetables and tubers for the domestic market and household subsistence (Beckford, 2011;Weis, 2004). In both countries the export crops, on which they had depended in past decades, declined since the 1990s in the face of globally uncompetitive production internally and the loss of protected markets internationally.…”