During a high-level meeting of ministers held by the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Minister of Agriculture, Marine Resources and Family Island Affairs Clay Sweeting called on countries to make agrifood systems more efficient, inclusive and sustainable, in order for vulnerable countries like The Bahamas to become more food secure and less vulnerable to shocks, the FAO said in a statement.

Sweeting was part of a proposal to establish a network of ministers for small island developing states, least developed countries and landlocked developing countries (SIDS, LDCs and LLDCs) with technical support from FAO, according to the statement.

Reiterating the regional call for more funding for SIDS, Sweeting said the qualifications for the access to funding and assistance needs to be re-evaluated.

"So the reality is at the end of the day, financing governs for the most part how we correct the other issues," said Sweeting.

"I am sure that we are all doing what we can, because we love our world, we love our countries, we love our people and we want to do what we can to combat climate change, increase food production and help our farmers, but even the greatest countries in the world heavily subsidize their farmers.

"There must be in 2023, where we can find a mechanism that provides real accessible opportunities for all countries that need assistance to build strong agricultural food systems - production, processing and distribution."

Sweeting also highlighted the challenges associated with crop insurance, an aging farming population, and the lingering impacts of Hurricane Dorian, which he said continues to stagnate the agriculture sector.

According to the statement, the FAO sees SIDS, LDCs and LLDCs as priorities for its network.

The statement said FAO Director-General QU Dongyu explained to the ministerial participants that their partnership is important to transforming agrifood systems and increasing resilience.

The meeting included participants from Haiti, Jamaica, Barbados, Dominican Republic, Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Cuba, Grenada and Paraguay.

"Other attendees were from Benin, Burundi, Cabo Verde, Cook Islands, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Guinea, Kiribati, Kyrgyzstan, Madagascar, Marshall Islands, Mauritania, Maldives, Mozambique, Myanmar, Nepal, Niger, Palau, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, South Sudan, Togo, Tonga, Uzbekistan and Yemen," the statement said.

The statement added: "The FAO director-general made it clear that FAO is ready to further strengthen its support to SIDS, LDCs and LLDCs. To address the climate crisis, for example, Qu stressed the need to 'prioritize climate-resilient agricultural practices', which includes using resilient crop varieties, increasing productivity while reducing greenhouse gas emissions, implementing sustainable and adapted soil, water and land management systems; and developing science-based tools for evidence based decision-making."

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