Latin America, the Caribbean Can Only Grow if Investment in Poorest Sectors is Made, FAO Warns

An analysis pieced together by the United Nations’ Food & Agriculture Organization (FAO) indicates that Latin America and the Caribbean won’t be able to put growth numbers on the board unless they lay the grounds for sustainable development on the basis of equality.

Experts say that as long as women, schoolchildren and least-favored sectors –like indigenous people- continue to have nutritional, educational and healthcare shortfalls, they’ll never become a competitive workforce in the economic field.

The committee highlighted the current unfavorable ratio of food insecurity, famine and economic and social segregation as problems that must be tackled head-on right now. It likewise touched on the need to come up with a comprehensive action plan in order to cope with those mishaps. In that sense, solutions based land reform, the financing of agricultural and rural programs, technical cooperation and access to markets simply brook no further delay.

The report also points out that when it comes to facing food insecurity and boosting rural development, the international context is one element worth paying heed to. Unfair trade conditions in the world agricultural market –most of them derived from inner bailout packages approved by the industrialized nations- must be ironed out. Trade barriers are also to be removed altogether.

In the same breath, the blue-ribbon panel recommended the use of natural resources as a warranty of food security and it called on politicians in the region to “grant more land property rights, as well as to encourage and strengthen different forms of ownership rights on natural resources, including social responsibility for their usage.”

Experts agree that a majority of poor people live in rural areas with very low farming output. Therefore –the report goes on to state- “new forms of non-agricultural income sources must be established in order to offset this problem.”

The committee’s report concludes that natural disasters and social calamities pose serious threats to food stability and to the preservation of natural resources in the region. Another recommendation to member states is to spur up “the development of strategies and food security programs designed to provide adequate protection from such catastrophes as earthquakes, hurricanes and civil conflicts.”