We produce enough food to have zero hunger – PM Gonsalves

The next major milestone to be achieved by St Vincent and the Grenadines is that of having no mouth going unfed in this country.{{more}}

One week back from his trip to Rome, Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves told a press conference on Monday that the government will attempt to eliminate hunger here, which, he said, would also put a dent in “dirt poor” poverty.

“…So, when you’re moving to zero hunger, you’re moving really to zero indigence,” the Prime Minister told journalists at a press conference at Cabinet Room.

“I know that you will tell me that I may be too ambitious, (but) we have to set goals.

“We have enough food produced to have zero hunger,” Gonsalves added.

The Prime Minister said that he is in the process of preparing a paper, which he said would suggest strategies to be used in the war against poverty and the move towards zero hunger.

Gonsalves said that the trip to Rome saw St Vincent and the Grenadines receiving a citation from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) for achieving the target set by the 1996 World Food Summit, to reduce by half the number of persons suffering from undernourishment.

This country was one of 18 which reached the target before the 2015 deadline.

The Prime Minister pointed out that, based on the progress that has been made, it is time to refocus attention to wiping out undernourishment and poverty, and this could be achieved by the elimination of hunger.

“I remember when I [first] came to office … I said that when I leave office that I would like to see a situation where there is a condition in the country where no man, woman, or child goes to bed hungry….

“Too little time remains; we have to make use of all of it. We have to make use of it sensibly too….

“You are not reinventing the wheel, you are continuing some of your policies which have brought you successes this far, but you also have to do some adjustments and some refinements, and some other targeted interventions, and I have laid out many of them in the paper….

Gonsalves also informed the media that Director General of the FAO Grazanio da Silva is scheduled to visit St Vincent and the Grenadines from July 9 to 11, and during that visit, daSilva would be taken on a tour of the rural areas of the country.

“I want to take him in a jeep and I want to go country with him. I want to go country, I want to go Leeward. I want him to meet some real flesh and blood farmers. I want him to see some of the roads on which we have to drive in the farming villages… I want him to see how we do work on small farms, how we have gotten to where we have gotten, but yet, how we need his help to do more, and the help of the international partners.”(JJ)