Feeding Saint Lucia: The Battle Against Soaring Food Prices

Catastrophic global events often spark worldwide inflation, but their impact on small economies like Saint Lucia and the rest of the Caribbean can be particularly severe, leaving these nations struggling to recover. Among inflation’s harshest impacts is the rising cost of food. As Saint Lucia relies heavily on food imports, global events directly affect local prices, making the fight against mounting food costs an uphill battle. COVID-19 resulted in dramatic setbacks in the Caribbean. Reports indicate that Latin America and the Caribbean suffered the world’s hardest blows in terms of per capita deaths and economic fallout. The pandemic caused drastic and sudden disruptions to trade, triggered by a dip in global demand, harsh cross-border restrictions, logistical challenges and port closures. This led to significant price hikes for imported food. Studies also show that food import costs increased in 2020 and 2021. These included fats and oils (31.3 per cent), dairy and eggs (17.9 per cent), fruits and vegetables (10.7 per cent), staples and cereals (15.4 per cent), meat and seafood (16.5 per cent), sugar and honey (15.2 per cent), spices and tea (8.2 per cent), and beverages (0.2 per cent). Although health concerns related to the pandemic have since subsided,...