Belize has a long way to go to cultivate food security

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2008 Belize sows seeds for food security

Both Palma and Miller can't say for certain why fresh vegetables in Belize have been relegated to the backburner, but they have their theories.

One theory for this shift is a transition to a cash-based economy. Miller says families now need cash to participate in the economy, and to, for instance, send their children to school.

"Public schools require that you have pens and paper and books and uniforms, which requires cash," Miller said. "So now the person who used to grow the vegetables goes out, leaves their village, and does construction work to go make cash money. They can leave their corn, their beans, their rice, and their staples and come back and harvest, but that's not true with a vegetable garden. So there went the vegetables."

It isn't just keeping their kids in school that has farmers traveling to town for work. Because of many disastrous trade agreements forged by the U.S., farmers can no longer make wages that allow them to work solely on the farm, where they could cultivate supplemental gardens.

Palma grew up on the family farm, where he said times were tough, but there was always healthy food on the table. Now, he says very few farmers are growing anything beyond several staple crops - corn, rice and beans. If families eat fresh vegetables, they're generally coming from nearby towns, not the local villages, and many are imported from abroad.

And while trade agreements make it cheaper to import food, outside cultures, particularly American, have infiltrated the Belizean psyche. "You've got cable TV with commercials for fast food, junk food, microwave, food that comes in a box and a can," said Miller.

Browse any supermarket in Belize and notice one thing missing - a produce section. A majority of the shelves are stocked with processed and canned foods. And eating these foods instead of backyard vegetables, says Miller, has become a sign of prosperity.

"The thoughts are, 'Rich people buy food at the shop. Poor people grow their own food. We don't eat them because we're not poor anymore. Ramen noodles, macaroni and cheese, a can of Vienna sausages - that is high living. Fresh pork with callaloo and pineapple from you back yard, no that's for poor people.'" MORE

Lord, I have seen that same story of American media advertsing changing customs for the worse and it drives me up the wall. Fresh pork and callaloo is less than Vienna sausages? Really? Then again it took living here for a while to see through the lies and glossy adverts. Oh god:/ On the hand, this is way more indepth. 11 page PDF FOOD SECURITY AND THE POVERTY PARADOX AT THE LOCAL LEVEL: THE CASE OF NORTH/SOUTH BELIZE

Food security at the household level is not only a factor of quantity, but also whether members of the household eat on time and/or have a greater selection of foods for meal preparation (Palacio, 1982). Cultural belief systems about food and health, rather than the nutritive value of food, contribute to dietary practices in Belize. Cultural practices place constraints on the type (quality) and the amount (quantity) of food items selected for consumption. It is the significance of lard or oil as mentioned above, to add “richness” to the diet. In some cases the timing of the arrival of foods, affects quantity and quality of foods consumed. In Barranco, the untimely arrival of the fisherman makes daily food supply uncertain at the household level. Similar examples are prevalent in both northern and southern communities, where production is limited despite proximity to the sea and available, arable land. I will outline three areas of cultural influences. One is the need to combine solids and liquids in the folk belief system (Palacio, 1982), the second is the deliberate refusal of certain foods to children and pregnant women (Brady, 1990); the third is the obligation to share foods in indigenous religious belief systems of the Garifuna people. Folk belief is that the body building properties of foods rest on the right mixture between solids and liquids. The distinction between solids and liquids rests not only on physical characteristics, but also on taste and presumed effects on the body. Garifuna women prefer the homemade darara (starch), to formula as foods for young infant feeding. The main reason was that the formula is not “heavy” enough to “fill-up” the infant (Palacio, 1982: 69). The formula also did not contain the right balance of solid and liquid. Teas were believed to be especially effective on the working of the body. Where once plant leaves were used as a base for teas, Milo and other imports were becoming the more preferred drink. The advertisement of Milo as a “tonic food drink” was very effective (Palacio, 1982: 73).MORE