Antigua and Barbuda Food and Nutrition Security Policy 2012.

The long-term goal of the Policy is to achieve sustainable food and nutrition security and to eliminate all forms of malnutrition in order to have a well-nourished and healthy population that can fulfil its aspirations to good health and economic well-being and effectively contribute to national socio-economic development. More specifically, the Policy will seek to: 1) Ensure that a sufficient quantity of nutritious food of appropriate quality is available to all people in Antigua and Barbuda, through increased domestic production and a sustainable level of imports, with special emphasis on a structured food import replacement programme (Food Availability). 2) Ensure that all individuals in Antigua and Barbuda have access to adequate resources to acquire appropriate foods for a nutritious diet (Food Accessibility). 3) Ensure that all individuals in Antigua and Barbuda reach a state of nutritional well-being through food choices and consumption that reflect Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDAs) (Food Utilization/Nutritional Status). 4) Ensure that all people in Antigua and Barbuda have access to adequate, safe and nutritious food at all times, are not at risk of losing access to it due to shocks, and consume/utilize foods that reflect physiological needs (Stability of Food Supply). This will entail the formulation and implementation of the activities and programmes set out in this Policy in order to: a) Increase household food production and trading; b) Improve income generation and job creation opportunities; c) Improve nutrition and food safety; d) Increase safety nets and food emergency management systems; e) Improve analysis and information management system; f) Provide capacity building; g) Hold stakeholder dialogue.
The constraints to food availability include: low productivity, short-term land tenures, inadequate water supply, difficulty in accessing credit, loss of arable lands to housing construction, lack of storage facilities, high labour and energy costs, persistent praedial larceny, and over-exploitation of marine food sources. The Policy will address these constraints and align food availability with recommended per capita food consumption targets through specific strategies and interventions in domestic food production and food imports.
The policy outlines the critical issues of food and nutrition security under the four pillars: Availability, Accessibility, Consumption/Utilization and Stability of supply. There is an increasing recognition that the solution to national food and nutrition problems does not reside in a single sector but in the collaborative efforts of multiple sectors of the economy. There are strong links between agriculture, health/nutrition, education and trade, and policy makers must recognize and act upon them. Historically, government ministries have been organized vertically and tasked with sector-specific mandates with minimal cross-sectoral collaboration. There is an urgency therefore to effectively engage agriculture, trade, education, finance, other government ministries, the private sector, civil society and other stakeholders in actions that will improve nutrition and health in Antigua and Barbuda. These actions are essential if the country is to reap synergistic benefits and entice key sectors to assist in addressing the main food and nutrition problems of the country. Given their inter-dependent and overlapping characteristics, these public policy issues can no longer be narrowly circumscribed by the traditionally vertical functions of line ministries. The multi-sectoral institutional mechanism for the implementation of the Policy must be clearly defined, developed, and operationalised in the resulting action plan.
Section 6 deals with implementation of the present Food and Nutrition Policy establishing that the Policy implementation process must incorporate good governance practices or Right to Food principles, including issues related to participation, accountability, non-discrimination, transparency, full respect for human dignity, empowerment, rule of law, and inclusion and considerations of equity. The following institutions are responsible for the correct and efficient enforcement of the Policy: 1) The Ministry of Agriculture, Lands, Housing and the Environment; 2) The Ministry of Health, Social Transformation and Consumer Affairs; 3) The Ministry of Education, Sports, Youth and Gender Affairs; 4) Ministry of National Security and Labour; 5) Ministry of Finance, the Economy and Public Administration. Moreover, the National Council on Food and Nutrition Security and National Food and Nutrition Security Committee shall be entrusted with the implementation of the present Policy.
The text consists of 6 sections as follows: Executive summary (I); Introduction (II); Situational analysis (III); Issues and priority areas of focus for food and nutrition policy (IV); Food and nutrition security policy (V); Institutional framework (VI). Ten Tables are enclosed.