UNITED NATIONS (CMC):

ST Vincent and the Grenadines' ambassador to the United Nations, Camillo Gonsalves, says the current global food crisis is "merely a symptom of deeper structural flaws" in the global economic system and consumerist culture.

Addressing a special meeting on the food crisis by the UN Economic and Social Council, Gonsalves said the crisis is "the canary in the mineshaft of trade barriers, bio-fuels, climate change, and anaemic development assistance.

"We must deal urgently with the current emergency," he urged, warning that without adjustments to the "underlying malaises", the symptoms will recur "with in-creasing frequency and severity".

Riots, instability

Gonsalves, the son of the country's prime minister, said St Vincent and the Grenadines is "acutely aware" that, within the region, the scarcity and escalating prices of basic foodstuffs have already led to riots and political instability.

He said that the Ralph Gonsalves government had attempted to assist, in its own "modest way," the more immediately affected sister Caribbean Community states", and will continue to do so.

"But, to our region, the high prices and scarcities are imported problems, largely beyond our direct control, and by-products of a system that for too long has taken the existence of a cheap and limitless food supply for granted," he said.

The Vincentian envoy said his country was also attempting to mitigate the escalating cost of imported food by increasing local production.

National plan

He said the island's "multi-faceted" National Food Production Plan includes, among other things, the provision of free fertiliser to the producers of staples, the production and distribution of heavily subsidised seedlings, the scientific screening of different crop varieties, the aggressive use of tissue cultures, and financial assistance for agricultural diversification.