When the outbreak of COVID-19 three years ago caused much of the worldwide economy to come to a sudden halt, its impact on the Pacific was unique. To prevent community transmission of COVID-19, many Pacific Island Governments closed their borders to international travel, consequently interrupting the income stream that made up most of their economies. Now, despite reopened borders, more challenges have emerged, with the increase in prices of food, feed, fuel, fertilizer and difficult access to finance – known collectively as the 5F crisis.

No sector in the Pacific Islands has been spared, including private and public, production and services, all have been affected. In the Pacific Island countries, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) reported that the Food Price Index rose, on average, by eight percent from January – June of this year, more than the already-high seven percent average the world has seen over the past three years (2019–2022). The price of fuel and fertilizer are also at unparalleled levels, threatening food security and livelihoods around the world, and disproportionately affecting Pacific SIDS. Rising prices impact not only the poorest, but also supply chains and the overall cost of living for the inhabitants of Pacific SIDS. 

To effectively address this dilemma, SIDS and other countries require evidence-based policy and action support. Through better data collection, the training of government officials to develop an early warning system, and connecting government institutions with international financing mechanisms, FAO, in collaboration with other UN agencies, is supporting the Pacific Island countries to alleviate the negative impact of the 5F crisis on their respective populations’ food security and livelihoods. 

Notwithstanding these existing crises and challenges, there is also an emerging opportunity to truly strengthen food systems’ pathways and rejuvenate traditional agrifood systems to correct nutritional deficiencies and counteract the prevalence of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in the Pacific Islands. 

FAO has discovered that these converging crises have negatively contributed to changes in consumers’ behaviour, noting increased prices on healthy foods, which have the potential to force people to resort to cheaper, less healthy options, or to implement practices potentially detrimental to natural resources (e.g. increase of near-shore fishing, increased use of wood for energy).  

In the short term, Pacific SIDS should focus on mitigating food security shocks. This can be achieved through country-led programmes, boosting of production and market-oriented initiatives. However, both farmers and consumers must be among the beneficiaries to ensure they have equitable access to improving their food security and livelihoods, and that the increases in production and productivity will not be achieved at the expense of the environment. 

To advance their national food systems pathways, Pacific Island Governments might also consider investing in:

• sustainable agricultural intensification supporting farmers to produce healthier, more nutritious food while also preserving their livelihoods and natural resources, 
• substitutions of heavily reliant imports, such as chicken and flour-based products, 
• developing alternative sources of nutrients to improve productivity and reduce exposure to chemical and fertilizer supply shocks, as well as hardier crop varieties that can safeguard food production and security.
• social protection measures that assure the most marginalized populations are properly supported.

In the medium to longer term, to support building sustainable, resilient and inclusive agrifood systems, Governments will have to ensure agroecosystem diversity. They will also need to address gender disparities in agriculture and rural communities, ensure their agrifood systems transformations are sustainable, and strengthen food price monitoring tools that are critical to allow raising the alarm of any future pending food shocks or crises. All of these can be combined with anticipatory actions and preventative measures that strengthen food systems in advance. 

Noting these local contexts and the need to ensure longevity and ownership of actions, the Pacific nations are turning to local innovators and solutions that have started to appear even before the pandemic and the Ukraine crisis. 

Innovation and innovators can provide a pathway out of the dilemma

Many such agrifood systems’ innovations were showcased on the SIDS Solutions Platform during a Global Forum in August last year co-hosted by FAO, the Government of Fiji, and International Telecommunication Union (ITU).  Following up and building on the successes of that 2021 Global Forum, old and new innovations will yet again take centre stage later this month during the Pacific SIDS Solutions Forum in Apia, Samoa. 

Co-hosted by FAO and Samoa from 28-30 November 2022, the Forum will provide a platform for Pacific Governments and private stakeholders to bolster innovation in agrifood systems pathways to help diversify Pacific Island economies and speed up the achievement of the SAMOA Pathway and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Their contribution towards sustainably improved food security, nutrition, health and the environment is a clear indication of a cultural shift, where creativity, gender equality and inclusivity converge to help us all create a better world for the people of the Pacific Islands, leaving no one behind.

• The author is the FAO Sub-Regional Coordinator for the Pacific based in Apia, Samoa.