Elizabeth Morgan | Food security in CARICOM: Can we break our wheat dependence?

The war in Ukraine has certainly elevated the issue of food security, which was a major item on the agenda of the recent 43rd CARICOM Heads of Government Conference. It has highlighted our dependence on wheat flour, something we have taken for granted.

Most of us do not sit down to a meal without having some item made of wheat flour, whether hard-dough bread in Jamaica, salt bread in Barbados, coconut sweet bread, dumplings, bakes, and all sorts of other breads, cakes, buns, and pastries, throughout the region. All these baked, fried and boiled products are made mainly with flour from wheat imported from the USA and Canada.

AFRICAN WHEAT DEPENDENCE

The shortage of wheat in Africa, and reports of pending famine, if wheat and other grain supplies are not secured from Russia and Ukraine, have also focused attention on wheat dependence. I was surprised to read of the extent of Africa’s dependence on imported wheat.

Some local commentators have said that Africa’s wheat dependence is due to European colonisation, as the Europeans introduced wheat products into Africa. Many of us have, I believe, never thought about where wheat came from, its origins, and have not sought to find out.

From my online reading, wheat originated in the Middle East in the area of Iraq into Turkey, and spread into North Africa. It has been produced in parts of Africa for millennia. Bread and other wheat-based products tend to be staples in these countries. Apparently, wheat is mentioned in 51 verses throughout the Bible from Genesis. It is said that wheat moved from the Middle East and North Africa into Europe.

Wheat cultivation was introduced into South Africa in the mid-17th century, possibly with the Dutch settlers. Wheat flour products were more likely also introduced into the West African countries, which did not have bread as a staple and where wheat did not grow well. With minimum cultivation, wheat flour would have been imported.

Wheat is today cultivated in African countries, such as Ethiopia, Egypt, Algeria, Morocco, South Africa, Sudan, Kenya, Tanzania, Nigeria, Zimbabwe and Zambia.

With many things affecting agriculture in Africa, including growing populations, urbanisation, environmental degradation, pestilence, and conflicts, the problem is that not enough wheat is produced in Africa to meet increasing demand. This has resulted in high importation of large quantities primarily from Russia and Ukraine. It is also cheaper to import than to cultivate and produce.

WHEAT FLOUR IN THE CARIBBEAN

Wheat was introduced into North and South America from Europe. Wheat flour was imported from Canada and the American territories into the British West Indian colonies as necessary for food.

Today, flour is produced from imported wheat grain which is milled in several Caribbean countries. I am actually noting that there is a Caribbean Millers Association with members in Barbados, Belize, Grenada, Haiti, Jamaica, Suriname, St Vincent and the Grenadines, and Trinidad and Tobago. Wheat flour is regarded as a sensitive product in CARICOM as a staple food item.

In 2021, for countries for which statistics are available, CARICOM countries imported approximately US$189.4 million in wheat from the traditional markets, Canada and the USA.

Initially, the price of wheat went up steeply, with the Ukraine war and sanctions against Russia, but now reports are that prices have been stabilising, as it is believed that Russia has still been selling grain in the Middle East and North Africa.

In addition, on Friday, July 22, the United Nations and Turkey brokered a deal for grain from Russia and Ukraine to be sold to prevent a global food crisis. We will see how that goes.

So while the price of wheat may be stabilising, there are other price increases, such as electricity, and fluctuations in the exchange rate, which could affect the price of bread and baked products, and other basic food items.

In the effort to promote food security, can the CARICOM countries realistically reduce their reliance on wheat? I gather there are proposals to examine the feasibility of growing wheat in the region. There have been proposals to use flour from other produce, such as cassava. Cassava flour is produced on a small scale in the region and, known as “farine”, is used in the Eastern Caribbean.

In Jamaica, it is mainly used to make the traditional cassava flatbread, known as bammy. At agricultural and food fairs, one can buy breadfruit and sweet potato flours, but do we know how to use them and have we acquired the taste? I admit to still having a packet of breadfruit flour in my fridge, bought with great enthusiasm. Can these “exotic” flours be produced on a commercial scale at a competitive price?

Seems a lot of work will have to be done to break our wheat flour dependence.

Elizabeth Morgan is a specialist in international trade policy and international politics. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com