Establishing a sustainable food system requires multi-sectoral coordination and collaboration to address all challenges simultaneously, says Agriculture Minister Vatimi Rayalu.
Speaking during the launch of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations 2023-2027 Multi-Country Programming Framework (CPF) at the Grand Pacific Hotel (GPH) on Monday, he said the agriculture was not alone and that the dialogue about food systems needed to be extended to other sectors.
“Agriculture also sequestrates and emits carbon and preserves (or affects) natural resources and life on earth depending on what choices are made by farmers, consumers, and decision makers,” Mr Rayalu said.
“But agriculture is not alone here and the dialogue about food systems needs to be extended to other sectors. For example, the trade sector buys, imports and exports food, organises food markets and plays key roles in the processing and marketing of agri-food products. As such it is critical to this agenda.
“Aside from the government, private and non-profit organisations, community groups, and individuals can work together to address food and nutrition insecurity.”
He said challenges such as increase in prices of food, feed, fuel, and fertiliser and difficult access to finance, known collectively as the 5F crisis — threatened food security and livelihoods around the world and disproportionately affected Pacific SIDs (small island developing states).
“In addition to this, we in the Pacific are facing a crisis with the triple burden of malnutrition, ie the coexistence of under nutrition (stunting and wasting), micronutrient deficiencies (hidden hunger) and over nutrition (overweight and obesity).
“To illustrate the seriousness of this, the Ministry of Health reports that around 80 per cent of deaths in Fiji are caused by non-communicable diseases or NCDs and these numbers are growing.
“Finding the solution to these complex problems requires a food systems approach and involves considering the entire food chain, taking into account the production, processing, distribution, and consumption of food as well as sustainability, climate change and the recovery of biodiversity.
“It requires a transformation of the food system if countries are to reach their sustainable development goal targets, but we cannot do this alone.” Mr Rayalu urged Pacific Island members to seize the development opportunities presented in the CPF.
Mr Rayalu also called on development partners to make development cooperation work better for Pacific SIDs.
