Dear Editor,
Reference is made to a column by Ms. Mosa Telford, `Eating from an empty bowl” (Nov 28). It is indisputable that there is starvation but why.
She writes: “With vast lands to cultivate and rear cattle and poultry, and great rivers to fish, how are citizens still starving?”. She did not answer the question. Starvation is not new. But Ms. Telford did not speak out before November 2020.
Starvation goes back to the late 1970s and was at its peak in the 1980s. I encountered many people begging for a “lil change” to buy food at Timehri during the 1980s and throughout Georgetown, New Amsterdam, and Rose Hall and at market places all over the country. I personally observed people going through garbage heaps during the 1980s to get foods in a country with abundant land and a large pool of unemployed. Why was there widespread hunger? Why was the country starving when it was described as a breadbasket? The nation would be interested in her answers. Then we can begin planning to address the issues raised by Ms. Telford.
Yours faithfully,
Vishnu Bisram
