My Say
Region's not Starving. But There are Worries.
Some of the Pacific's agricultural ministers met in Vanuatu in July to discuss what position their region should present at a Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) summit.
The meeting is to debate what has been achieved since a summit five years ago at which 186 nations agreed on action to cut the number of starving people in the world by half by 2015. The target was to cut the number by 20 million a year. The achieved rate is only eight million.
- ADVERTISEMENT -
An estimated 792 million people in 98 countries are still starving. What does this have to do with the Pacific Islands?
At the FAO regional office in Samoa they agreed that it¹s difficult to present the Pacific Islands as being a region of starving people. True, a few years back, many Papua New Guineans needed food supplies after a drought and then unusually cold weather destroyed food gardens in the highlands.
True, after a hurricane that destroys crops, or a spell of drought, or fallout from a volcano, or some other natural disasters, people in some other parts of region do from time to time become dependent on emergency food supplies from outside. But for pretty well most of the time, doesn't food fall from trees and bushes, or pop out of the ground, or jump out from the lagoon?
 |
|
|
Yes and no. It is a fact that generally Pacific Islanders are fortunate in having steady and adequate supplies of food more or less bestowed on them by nature. True, for some atoll dwellers, supplies may be of a limited range, but normally they are adequate. But can food supplies always be counted upon to be adequate? If the environment which produces them remains intact, then the answer is that most countries of the region should be reasonably self-sufficient in producing enough food for their growing populations in the clearly foreseeable future.
In that case why is it that so many Pacific Islands countries are such heavy food importers?
One reason is that some imported foods are cheaper. Another is changing diet.
For half a century Pacific Islanders have been becoming hooked on imported foods that are killing them. Imports are, generally, cheaper, easier to store for long periods and eliminate the hard work of planting and fishing. Diets sickeningly rich in fat, sugar, and excessive amounts of other substances are saturating the entire Pacific Islands nations with some of the world¹s worst rates for obesity, hypertension, diabetes and heart diseases. Also with malnutrition.
Malnutrition? Yes. Pacific Islanders are starving to death not for want of quantity, but quality. Throughout the Pacific they are dependent on imported junk food because it is easier and cheaper than the highly nutritious vegetables, fruit, fish and animals their ancestors thrived on.
This is not a new problem. Health authorities have grappled with it ineffectively for years. Tonga recently banned the importation of cheap fat-laden lamb flaps dumped on its people by New Zealand. Tonga hopes to cut a horrific obesity rate.
But perhaps island governments need to go further, perhaps by closing down the McDonald's, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Coca-Cola and so-called "snack food" factories they greet now as development landmarks.
Other threats to the status of local food supplies, and hence national health, are becoming evident. New insect pests and plant diseases are advancing into the region. Agricultural departments are waking up to the havoc that imported pesticides and agricultural chemicals and fertilisers are causing to local environments. Soil erosion caused by the unthinking reshaping of landscapes by engineers and builders is a problem everywhere, as is deforestation.
Yes, the Pacific's food and agricultural ministers do have some worries to talk about at the World Food Summit: Five Years Later conference. But it could be that the talk is too late. The food supply outlook for Pacific Islanders is not as sure, sound and safe as many of them believe.
Robert Keith-Reid can be reached at rkeith-reid@ibi.com.fj
