Regional Food and Nutrition Experts meet in
Belize
Leading regional food and nutrition experts
have expressed concern that poor food consumption habits pose one of the
most serious threats to quality of life in the region, reported the
Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC).
Executive Director of the Caribbean Agricultural Research and
Development Institute (CARDI), Dr Wendell Parham, told regional
delegates attending a one-week food and nutrition security workshop
here, the region cannot afford the current rate of health problems
created by poor nutritional habits.
"The cost to the individual and to society due to low energy levels,
poor motivation, low productivity, sicknesses, diseases and all sorts of
disabilities are extremely high and cannot be afforded by poor resource
nations," he said.
Some delegates lamented the relatively low priority given to food and
nutrition security issues in the region and suggested that strategies be
devised to place it high on the political agenda in their individual
territories.
They cited the growing incidence of diabetes, hypertension and heart
disease.
Participants also voiced concern that while there was much focus on
obesity and heavy consumption of unhealthy foods, there were also
pockets of poverty in the region where under-nutrition was a real
problem.
Addressing Monday´s opening session of the workshop, Prime Minister Said
Musa said poor nutrition was, in part, an issue of consumer demand.
"Why we are sometimes ashamed of producing and eating some of our
cultural foods, and how we have become so dependent on imported food,
are matters that need to be researched and discussed," he said.
There is also concern that the occurrence of natural disasters was
serving to worsen the situation.
Dr Parham pointed to "the increasing trend with respect to natural
disasters" with the region experiencing the serious effects of
volcanoes, hurricanes, earthquakes (and) extreme weather patterns
"extreme heat and dry on the one hand and devastating flooding on the
other."
He said these events created conditions that have led to "the resurgence
of pests and disease (and) new pests and diseases affecting our human,
animal and plant populations."
The CARDI head added that recent trends in regional trade and travel had
also contributed to the problem because they had the potential to
"predispose the region to new pests and diseases referred to as invasive
species."
He however said the region was yet to fully benefit from the gains to be
derived from scientific research in this area of concern.
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