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Pacnews
Fri, 12 Mar 2010
SUVA, Fiji --- A high level regional meeting to discuss challenges to food security in the Pacific will be convened in Vanuatu next month.
It’s a multi-sectoral meeting involving health, agriculture, trade and consumer groups to thrash out their concerns and explore solutions to food security issues.
“It’s really important to have a multisectoral approach. Not one agency can do it alone. We need to work together to deal with these issues, said Dr Ken Chen, the World Health Organisation’s Representative in the Pacific.
Dr Chen said the Pacific faces a serious stress on food security, as identified from the six national food summits already convened.
“Several of the food summits identified food supply, food price, how to keep the balance between local and imported foods, food and health, particularly food and non communicable diseases as threats.
National Food Summits have been convened in Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Kiribati, Samoa and Vanuatu.
Availability of healthy food at an affordable price will also feature in the three day summit.
“The idea came from participants of a regional workshop in 2008 –“healthy choice should be an easy choice, healthy choice should be a cheap choice.’ That’s why we need the support from other agencies and stakeholders. How can we make sure that the healthy choice is an easy choice and healthy choice is a cheap choice?
He admits there is a heavy reliance in imported and processed foods in many Pacific Island Countries, especially in small low lying atolls.
In a number of Pacific Island Countries, rice and flour have replaced rootcrops as the source of starch and energy. This has resulted in a high food import bill, exceeding total exports, especially for countries like Cook Islands, Kiribati, Samoa and Tuvalu.
“In these cases, government’s can decide on what kind of food they allow for their people. Importers of food and government can work together to work something out on the kinds of food they bring into the country.
“They could look at something like charging more taxes to make these imported food expensive. That can be done if people are educated about the choices of food they can consume, said Dr Chen.
Another contributing factor to food security in the Pacific is the dramatic increases in food prices as a result if the global economic crisis.
The Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) forecast that the world would spend more than 20 percent more on food imports in 2008 than in 2007. This will severely strain the budgets of low-income food-deficit countries that are likely to see their import bills soar by more than 40 percent in 2009. Projections suggest that food prices are likely to remain high in the next few years.
Dr Chen said industries that process local foods must step up and improve the quality of the food they produce.
“Local industries should be responsible. We tell them you prepare the food for your consumers and think of the side effects of your product.
“For example, we are encouraging people to reduce their intakes of fatty foods, sugar and salt. So we tell the producers don’t make the food too salty because if you take too much salt, clearly the blood pressure will be high, too much fatty is not healthy and cause heart problems and too much sugar will lead to obesity and other diseases.
Pacific Island Countries and Territories record some of the highest prevalence of obesity and type 2 diabetes in the world. Based on WHO STEPS surveys, overweight and obesity prevalence ranges from 47 – 93 percent. In Fiji the number of people with diabetes is expected to double to 72,000 people affected by 2030.
This is because diets are low in vegetables and fruit. 40 percent of students in Fiji ate at least two servings of fruit per day and only 55 percent ate at least two servings of vegetables lacking in essential nutrients, and are vulnerable to changes in imported food supply brought about by food price and fuel related cost increases, according to WHO.
Dr Chen said consumers should be educated on the importance of product labels.
“Government should make sure food inspectors check the products to see if the foods have expired, these should not be put out in the market. Shops should take out expired food from the shelves.
On the issue of imported food dumped on many Pacific Island Countries, Dr Chen agreed that quality control checks must be in place.
“Many producers cannot sell goods in their own country because they have they have a well developed system to control the quality of food they receive. In the Pacific, many of our countries don’t have these kinds of controls in place. Our governments should be encouraged to set up these control systems to protect our people from all these products being dumped on us, said Dr Chen.
“This is one reason why wanted a multi sectoral and multi-agency summit so that all the relevant government stakeholders and agencies come together and discuss these issues and work out how they work together for a food secure Pacific.
The Vanuatu meeting is expected to endorse a Pacific Declaration on Food Security supported by governments and industries that supply and produce food.
The Declaration and accompanying Framework for Action will include a clear set of strategies and actions to address food security, quality and safety in the Pacific.
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