Ministry of Health Works to Reduce Cost of Locally Produced Fruits and Vegetables

The Ministry of Health and Wellness is working with the Ministry of Agriculture to reduce the cost of locally produced fruits and vegetables. The government recently expanded the basic food basket to tackle the increased cost of living; however, many items on the list are processed goods. Health Minister Kevin Bernard says he’s aware many Belizeans rely on cheap processed products not considered nutritious. Bernard explained that the issue highlights the need to lower the cost of fresh produce to improve and promote healthy living among the population.

Kevin Bernard, Minister of Health: “We are also encouraging more people to eat healthy. Despite the fact that yes, certain items are being regulated I want to ask persons to try and eat healthy. We at the Ministry are going to also be lobbying closely with the Ministry of Agriculture and with the Ministry of Finance to see how we can look at reducing the burden on those  nutritional products that are beneficial to our people as opposed to those items that can create more obesity and more hypertension and more cancer that are the same thing that we are trying to fight against. And so there are steps that we are doing and it takes baby steps, it takes a lot of time but it is important that we are able to arrest the cost of living issue in this country and so the cabinet felt that we had to do that. But we are also cognizant that from a healthy standpoint we must need we start to look at processes that we are encouraging people. And so I want to encourage everybody to read the nutrition policy. This will be launched in the schools, this will be done and if we are able to do that every single individual can pick up the nutrition policy. It’s available online, read it and familiarize yourself it gives you good guidance on how you can eat.”