President, Jioji Konrote says here in Fiji, the COVID-19 pandemic has influenced a growth in subsistence farming and backyard gardening.
He made these comments while addressing the Pacific Regional Head of Agriculture and Forestry services during a virtual meeting.
Konrote says before the global effects of COVID-19, together with his team, he would travel to communities and advocate for subsistence farming to address the issue of food security.
He says with COVID-19 now putting food systems under strain as global food supply chains are disrupted, the synergies between agriculture, food security, forestry, fisheries, biodiversity and human wellbeing, and prosperity are laid bare.
He says there is a need to grow our way towards a sustainable, healthy food system that can guarantee people to have enough high-quality food to ensure a healthy and fulfilling life.
He adds what deeply troubles him is the reality of what an increase in unhealthy and decrease in nutritional diets can lead to in the Pacific –a deadly over-reliance on convenient and affordable processed foods.
Konrote says this increases the burden of Non-Communicable Diseases, which already has a disproportionate and devastating effect on Pacific Island peoples.
Konrote says the worsening climate threat is not secondary to COVID-19 and months away from the cyclone season, it must be addressed collaboratively with equal urgency as the global pandemic.
The Presidents further states that COVID-19 affects food security in each country differently, therefore solutions need to be specific and relevant instead of a blanket-approach solution.
He says the response to climate change and the pandemic must be guided by their long-term commitment to carbon-neutral, climate-resilient societies that also protects and restores nature.
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