The Bahamian people can and should – with the help of appropriate labour – produce more of the food its people consume

Price Inflation and Food Shock

The Bahama Journal Editorial



Today some of what passes for new information has to do with the fact that the price for practically everything with the possible exception of labour is set to move upward.

This is what the economists mean when they talk about inflation; that situation where things fetch more and more while – on occasion – income marches in an opposite direction.

On occasion, situations arise when some people are hard-pressed to find money sufficient to pay for basics like food, shelter, heath and protection.

Sadly, this is becoming a reality for more and more Bahamians, particularly those who are ill, home-bound, indigent or otherwise marooned on Death’s door-step.

We now have another looming crisis on our hand. This time around is a situation where the government and people of the Bahamas must respond.

While we are quite certain that Social Welfare and charities galore in Civil Society can and will do what they must, we are also certain that these actions will only suffice to delay the coming of that day when some of those who are in distress might be pushed to take desperate action – with some of what they do bordering on the criminal.

But while this might yet become a reality in this already blighted and blasted place, we are sufficiently hopeful in our advocacy for the development of policies and strategies that could be of some great help, moving forward.

Bahamians can and should so gear themselves that they can produce more of the food they consume; and for that matter, more of the foodstuffs consumed by visitors.

The time is precisely now for our leaders and their Caribbean counterparts to come together with a view towards harnessing regional capacity.

This process could have the salutary effect of making the entire region less dependent on the rest of the world.

Information reaching us suggests that even if – by some magic- things were to return to some semblance of normalcy, food prices, fuel prices and the prices attached to technology and other commodities would continue to rise.

This analysis has evident implications and ramifications for countries such as the Bahamas that just happen to be ultra-dependent on the export and sale of services to sustain the life-styles to which they have become accustomed.

Put simply, all currently available indicators suggest that the Bahamian people should – as of now – brace themselves for the onset of any number of wrenching changes.

One such change involves this nation’s and our region’s speedier access to food that is inexpensive, nutritious, available and accessible, all at once.

Acceptance of such a formula immediately brings with it a slew of implications for labor law, immigration policy and relations with our neighbors in the region.

We deem this matter one that should be given priority attention: this because, the Bahamas unlike some of its sister nations in the Caribbean – inclusive of Jamaica, Cuba and Barbados, among others – is a net food importer.

This fact of life now underscores the grave importance of news coming in to the effect that, "... Rising international food prices could trigger an acceleration of inflation in several countries in Latin America and the Caribbean this year…"

The Inter-American Development Bank indicates that this now underscores what it describes as "…the need for policies to protect the urban poor…"

There are thousands of Bahamians who are today suffering from a double-barreled food whammy.

This two-pronged disaster derives not only from the fact that tens of thousands of them are obliged to eat food that is not only expensive, but also massively devoid of nutrients. Very many of them now have next to nothing with which to buy food.

These people are sometimes reduced to begging.

This situation is one that will be with us for the long haul; precisely because of the parlous situation in a United States that is itself battling with unemployment, a fractious political system and forces over which it has little control.

This suggests that even when recovery does come, tens of millions of Americans will work harder, save more and therefore spend less on luxuries such as a vacation-visit to the Bahamas.

While some of our fellow Bahamians wait for things to return to normal, there are some other Bahamians who have sought to suggest to a skeptical public that no such return is in the offing.

These people routinely call on the authorities to do what they have to do so as to help our people as they do their level-best to get through these hard times.

The Bahamian people can and should – with the help of appropriate labour – produce more of the food its people consume.

May 5th, 2011

The Bahama Journal Editorial

Bahamas Blog International