Food systems in the Pacific are substantially under threat because of climate change, natural disasters and man-made crises like COVID-19 and the war in Ukraine.
This, according to European Union (EU) delegation for the Pacific representative Barbara Riksen at a World Food Day panel discussion last Thursday organised by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and Consumer Council of Fiji.
“Extreme weather events have a huge impact on the agricultural production and can damage critical infrastructure in the agri food chain,” she said.
“The COVID-19 pandemic and other prices, for example, the global food price rise as a consequence of the war in the Ukraine affected and are still affecting the food systems, even here in the Pacific.
“However, these threats may offer an opportunity to rethink agri-food systems.
“It may incentivise transformative solutions to emerge that promote more resilience and strength, more sustainable food systems.”
She added Pacific countries and communities were in the frontline in the fight against climate change, and in their efforts to strengthen sustainable food systems.
FAO policy officer Itziar Gonzalez reiterated the need for more discussions on how food systems could be transformed in light of challenges arising from the Russian-Ukraine war. She said globally, food systems were underperforming because countries were not able to produce healthy and affordable diets for everybody.
“We have seen different ways in which people have been adjusted, for example, something that has happened in the case of Fiji it has been the national production has been boosted,” she said.
“This is a good example because during the pandemic since 2020, the food exports have grown in Fiji.
“Building back better opens the door for many green and blue jobs, which means that we can use, for example, technology and innovation digital technologies in innovative ways to transform the food system and to provide better opportunities and better jobs to the people.
The two-day workshop ended on Friday.
