The support of the international community has been identified as a vital component in transforming Fiji’s food systems.

This was stressed by Minister for Agriculture, Waterways and Environment Hon. Dr. Mahendra Reddy when opening the 2-day Fiji Food System Dialogues Validation Workshop at Radisson Blu on Denarau, Nadi.

Hon. Reddy highlighted the country-specific binding constraints that curtailed the sustainable development of agriculture and food systems in Fiji, elaborating the required contributions needed from developed participating members of the Global Food Summit.

He singled out the lack of farm mechanization as a glaring indicator of the country’s incipient agricultural development model, an aspect which needed urgent action from international parties to help progress farming practices towards fully mechanized farming models.

"The whole idea of undertaking country-wise food system conventions is to come up with the country-specific binding constraints and the solutions to it, as this is something that you may not find in other countries and this is why we need to ease out on some of these country-specific binding constraints."

“The reason behind coordinating and organising global food summits is to reach an agreement on how we mobilize resources on a global level and pass it onto the country level so that we can address some of the issues at the country level,” said Hon. Reddy.

“What we need from the global food summit is assistance in developing our mechanization. Otherwise, it's no use having a global food summit if the global players are not willing to allocate resources to deal with these binding constraints and this is where we need it because our rate of mechanization is very slow and that is affecting agricultural growth and we now need to move towards rapid mechanization for sustainable food systems,” he added.

He explained that to better understand farming and food systems, it required identifying these constraints to enable bold new transformative actions while delivering on all 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), each of which relied, to some degree on healthier, more sustainable and equitable food systems.

“If this is not achieved, then all this consultation and planning will just be an agenda item ticked.

“We can have the best plan and strategy but if we don’t provide resources to implement those plans, then its time wasted.

“It is now more than ever, that Fiji needs to protect its food system, especially towards post-COVID-19. We urgently need multi-sectoral collaborations to address short-term plans and long-term implications of the interruptions to our food system, caused by the pandemic,” he said.

Binding constraints such as a lack of long-term lease agreements, minimal amounts of available land for agriculture, non-availability of Mataqali land for commercial agriculture use by Mataqali members, slow rate of mechanization, limited finance resourcing for agricultural ventures, and a lack of market opportunities in remote areas were identified.

Additionally, farm access roads and food processing plants are also viewed as areas that need to be addressed.

Another binding constraint stated was the use of Phytosanitary measures to restrict exports, as it continued to be a barrier that prevented the free movement of fresh produce to international markets.

The forum will revise approaches needed to unlocking the full potential of Fiji’s food systems and discuss transformational pathways aimed at describing Fiji’s current food system, and identify binding constraints in order to develop pathways that will enable a safe and sustainable food system that considers key actions, such as promotion of; sustainable livelihoods, preservation of essential forest ecosystems and native biodiversity, and provide food and nutrition security that will ensure the economic growth for a better and secure future for all Fijians.

An expected outcome of the 2-day workshop is a validated and finalized Fiji Food System Pathway Document which sets the precedent towards “A Safe, Resilient, & Innovative Food System”. The forum ends today.

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