The Covid-19 Pandemic has forced many, if not all, of the world's nations to reimagine what life will look like for their citizens moving forward. We now greet all of our life experiences with masks on, our hands dry from over-sanitizing, and with our bodies standing three or six feet apart from anyone else. Social gatherings, religious fellowship, and even our educational experiences are tensely partaken in or have been digitized all together.
Coronavirus has also enormously influenced the manners by which we approach meeting our essential needs, like attaining and securing food, for instance.
Author Pattie Baker, in her book 'Food for my Daughters', defines food security as the opportunity for all people to have access to appropriate and nutritious foods at all times without relying on emergency services. Of course, when we apply this concept to the Caribbean, where our rate of importation for foodstuff is way higher than our rate for exportation - we can perceive how limited working hours and closed borders in an aim to diminish the dangers of citizens being infected with the virus could have unwanted effects on the region's food security.
Be that as it may, for what reason is food security so significant? Well, if we consider Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, human beings can only reach their highest potentials, and by and large, substantively contribute to their nations if their basic needs like - food, water, and shelter have been met. But beyond the citizen as a producer of labor for the economy, one being able to meet their basic needs secures their sense of personal dignity, a sense of dignity that, for many, has been shaken because of the pandemic.
The Caribbean COVID-19 Food Security and Livelihoods Impact Survey was spearheaded by CARICOM to collect data on the pandemic's impacts on our livelihoods, food security, and our access to markets. Of the 5707 responses that were taken from across 23 countries, nearly half of all respondents account that their ability to carry out livelihoods was impacted. This was due to movement restrictions, concerns leaving the home, and reduced demand for their products and services. About 62% of all participants had been rendered unemployed because of the pandemic, and 1/3 of the respondents were concerned about not being able to meet their basic needs.
The results of this survey are nothing short of alarming. They call for us as a region to collect an accurate snapshot of where the Caribbean is at now as it relates to food security, and having this snapshot lead discussions about this said food security, and of course, how we could about dodging a grave economic blow in the name of keeping citizens safe.
Lucky for you, Yugen Story Reader, it will not take us too long to have this discussion. Yugen Stories will be hosting its first webinar on October 15th!
In this webinar, we will hear from the experts, who will tackle the issue of how Covid-19 has impacted our food security in the Caribbean and how we could go about addressing this matter as a region moving forward.
What's in it for you? A whole bunch of knowledge and a handful of inspiring takeaways. That we can promise.
For more information on the webinar and registration for the webinar, please see the link attached. https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfoab7L3NoY1een7rGejme7wuzpildZ-zZXE2xATkqxAkk82Q/viewform?usp=send_form
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