The international community has been urged to invest in agricultural innovation in a way that includes traditional practitioners and acknowledges the interconnectedness of agriculture with nutrition, culture, climate and many other aspects of Pacific life.
Dr Audrey Aumua, who is CEO of the Fred Hollows Foundation NZ and the former Deputy Director General of the Pacific Community in Suva, made this point during 2022 Sir John Crawford Memorial Address recently.
Noting the vulnerability of Pacific islands’ agricultural sector to environmental challenges, biodiversity loss, natural disasters and economic shocks, Dr Aumua noted that the Hunga-Tonga-Hunga-Ha’apai eruption in January, “spewed ash and adversity throughout the islands of Tonga, requiring rebuilding of entire communities and destroying the entire agricultural and crop sector of Tongatapu. A few minutes of a natural event destroyed decades of development.”
The event caused an estimated TOP39M (US$16M) in damage to the agricultural sector, but the Pacific Farmer Organisation’s assistance program (facilitated by Nishi Trading) has now seen 26 growers provided with farming equipment, fertilisers, pesticides, fungicides and seeds.
That program was held up for two months by shipping delays, but farmers have now been able to return to the land they were working before the eruption.
Dr Aumua noted that the climate emergency has amplified threats to agriculture and food security, “and has led to declining availability of arable land and declining crop yields. Our region today is constantly fighting a rear-guard action against these continual threats.
“There is often little time to make long-term plans due to the constant disruptions of the environment and [for] many governments in this region, immediate actions to save lives are not always sustainable. Long-term planning is really unattainable for many of our small island nations.
She continued, “quite simply, the Pacific needs to become global leaders in adaptation and adaption.”
Nutritional security must also be at the heart of agricultural and development efforts, Dr Aumua said.
“The truth is that the Pacific food production is still currently insufficient to supply the amount of fruits and non-starchy vegetables required for good human health.”
She cited several examples of innovative work in the sector such as the Centre for Pacific Crops and Trees (CePaCT) in Suva, a gene bank which works to ensure efficient long-term conservation of a broad range of genetic diversity of key crops and tree species and facilitates the safe distribution of plant material across borders. CePaCT recently won the Island Innovation Award for Innovative Island Research, with Programme Leader for Genetic Resources Logotonu Meleisea Waqainabete saying the award would continue to advance CePaCT’s work as SPC partners with Pacific communities to face climate change and build a food-secure future for the region.
Dr Aumua also noted the release of a coconut risk management and mitigation manual this year, saying of the coconut tree, “It really has to be the most useful tree in the world however it is under threat. The rhinoceros beetle is a major pest to the coconut and has to date devastated coconut growth and production in many small islands.”
She said the manual “covers risks from seed to consumption, including climate change, planting, pests and diseases, policy, technology, post harvest marketing and essentially cultural habits.”
The Coconut Rhinoceros Beetle has been identified in seven Pacific Island countries, spreading rapidly in the past decade, and killing thousands of trees, thwarting recovery and replanting efforts and investment in value-added coconut products.
A third innovation, food cube technology which allows for food crop cultivation in sandy atoll nations, is being trialled in Tuvalu, with plans to extend the pilot to Kiribati. Crops are grown above ground, in recycled plastic containers, so are protected from saltwater intrusion.
Dr Aumua said that these and other breakthroughs need support and collaboration to take hold.
“I ask, as science and research progresses in the Pacific why is our aid lagging and our agricultural models outdated? There is currently a lack of investment in scaling and most importantly we need a broader regional research agenda that not only provides support, but builds capacity for agricultural research in the region, so that Pacific people themselves can innovate using their own knowledge and skills.”
She acknowledges there have been improvements, but urged inclusivity.
“The science and technology communities really do need to work hand in hand with traditional knowledge practitioners to finding unique and relevant solutions to our unique and relevant agricultural challenges. But we need those solutions to travel beyond the lab and beyond the village.”
She urges funders not to look at projects and options like a “menu of choices.”
“We cannot decide to deal with one area and leave the rest for another time. They are all interconnected. Failure to fund and invest in one area will inevitably bring down the rest.”
