Page 35 - Islands Business October 2022

Agriculture

AUMUA’S CHALLENGE

FUND AGRICULTURE FOR NUTRITION, INCLUSION, SURVIVAL

By Samantha Magick That program was held up for two months by shipping
delays, but farmers have now been able to return to the land
The international community has been urged to invest in they were working before the eruption.
agricultural innovation in a way that includes traditional Dr Aumua noted that the climate emergency has ampli-
practitioners and acknowledges the interconnectedness of fied threats to agriculture and food security, “and has led to
agriculture with nutrition, culture, climate and many other declining availability of arable land and declining crop yields.
aspects of Pacific life. Our region today is constantly fighting a rear-guard action
Dr Audrey Aumua, who is CEO of The Fred Hollows Founda- against these continual threats.
tion NZ and the former Deputy Director General of the Pacific “There is often little time to make long-term plans due to
Community (SPC) in Suva, made this point during the 2022 Sir the constant disruptions of the environment and [for] many
John Crawford Memorial Address recently. governments in this region, immediate actions to save lives
Noting the vulnerability of Pacific islands’ agricultural sec- are not always sustainable. Long-term planning is really unat-
tor to environmental challenges, biodiversity loss, natural di- tainable for many of our small island nations.
sasters and economic shocks, Dr Aumua noted that the Hunga She continued, “quite simply, the Pacific needs to become
Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai eruption in January, “spewed ash and global leaders in adaptation and adaption.”
adversity throughout the islands of Tonga, requiring rebuilding Nutritional security must also be at the heart of agricultural
of entire communities and destroying the entire agricultural and development efforts, Dr Aumua said.
and crop sector of Tongatapu. A few minutes of a natural “The truth is that the Pacific food production is still cur-
event destroyed decades of development.” rently insufficient to supply the amount of fruits and non-
The event caused an estimated TOP39M (US$16M) in dam- starchy vegetables required for good human health.”
age to the agricultural sector, but the Pacific Farmer Organ- She cited several examples of innovative work in the sector
isation’s assistance program (facilitated by Nishi Trading) has such as the Centre for Pacific Crops and Trees (CePaCT) in
now seen 26 growers provided with farming equipment, fertil- Suva, a gene bank which works to ensure efficient long-term
isers, pesticides, fungicides and seeds. conservation of a broad range of genetic diversity of key crops

Women return from their plantation in Vanuatu.

Islands Business, October 2022 35