ROOTS TO RESTAURANTS SAVES HOTELS MONEY AND BOOSTS FARMER INCOMES
KINGSTON, Jamaica (October 27, 2010) – Linking growers to the tourism industry creates wealth for small farmers while simultaneously reducing the high cost of importing expensive food, asserted a development expert.
“Furthermore, collecting traditional recipes from rural areas enables chefs to increase the amount of local dishes offered to visitors,” said Lelei LeLaulu, vice president of the the Caribbean Media Exchange on Sustainable Tourism (CMEx).
Dubbed “Roots To Restaurants,” the initiative was served up at the 19th edition of CMEx in Kingston, Jamaica early October which focused on tourism linkages.
“Roots To Restaurants,” according to LeLaulu, also addresses a nagging concern for most visitors – “by far the most common complaint of tourists is the lack of local food offered by resorts.”
Noting hoteliers can save more than 70 percent of their food costs by purchasing local produce, LeLaulu pointed to the huge amount of precious foreign exchange “needlessly going abroad.”
“The experience and wherewithal is already in the Caribbean where the many agricultural and tourism authorities get it. Added to that is a hotel industry which is sensitive to the issue,” he contended. “Resorts are being shown the way by distinctive properties like those run by Chris Blackwell in Jamaica which already offer organic foods and exquisite local dishes through farm-to-fork projects,” LeLaulu declared.
Speaking in the wake of the Ninth Caribbean Week of Agriculture which met last week under the theme `Sustainable Agriculture Development to Achieve Food and Nutrition Security’, LeLaulu suggested the “Roots To Restaurants” approach enables farmers to produce more nutritious food not only for the tourism industry but also for local markets.
“It’s also about food sovereignty – imagine what would happen if food imports were halted by natural or man made disasters?” he asked.
Against the background of regional food insecurity, the Caribbean Week of Agriculture looked at arrangements to facilitate the newly launched Caribbean Agricultural Health and Food Safety Agency (CAHFSA).
About The Caribbean Media Exchange (CMEx)
The Caribbean Media Exchange produces interactive symposia that match journalists from the Caribbean, North America and Europe with representatives of the government, business hospitality and development sectors to discuss tourism policies aimed at improving the lives of Caribbean people.
Since its inception in October 2001, CMEx has helped improve the quality of media coverage of sustainable tourism in the Caribbean; increase the media’s participation in the design of sustainable tourism policies; remind government decision makers of the impact of tourism on other sectors of the economy; and highlight the necessity of tourism to the economies of small island states.
Its mission is “to be the premier communications organization promoting sustainable tourism, through media and smart partnerships, to create holistic wealth for all peoples, including those in Latin America, the Caribbean and other Emerging Markets.”
For additional details, visit www.cmexmedia.org.
