Wednesday 7 October 2009:  9.30AM
WAITURI COMMUNITY HALL, NAUSORI

President, Nausori Rural Women’s Association, Mrs Sharda Segran

Sub Divisional Medical Officer Nausori, Dr Susana Nakalevu,

Invited guests,

Ladies and Gentlemen.

I am honoured to be here today at the 29th World Food Day celebration. I am grateful to Nausori Rural Women’s Association for the invitation. 

The World Food Day marks the significance of sufficient food for a healthy and productive life. Issues of food security, safety and quality can no longer be taken for granted. One sixth of all humanity is suffering from hunger.

In Fiji, poverty is about 34%. The Director of the Fiji Council of Social Services stated, “an increase in the number of people going house-to-house asking for food and money in the past years is an indication of rising poverty levels in the country”. The growing numbers of beggars on our streets also indicate that poverty is increasing and slowly worsening in this country.

Although absolute poverty is not quite visible in Fiji, there is poverty as a result of limited access to basic necessities of life like land, clean water, shelter and food supply and is affecting our peoples’ ability to provide a decent living for their families in this country.

Statistics from the 2004 National Nutrition Survey revealed that many people in Fiji do not meet their daily food needs. The poverty report of 2008 indicates that 50% of the population were living below the poverty line, meaning that a significant percentage of families in Fiji’s population do not consume or afford nutritious meals.

The Food Balance Sheets show that there has been a proportional shift towards less energy provided by carbohydrates and more energy derived from fat and protein. In addition, energy from cereals (rice and wheat products) has continued to increase compared to energy from traditional root crops.

Fiji has become dependent on imported food, and this impacts on the price. We are responsible for our own food security to ensure everyone is well fed. However, this becomes difficult when we are faced with circumstances beyond our control, especially during natural disasters or when there is a global recession.

 In January, Fiji suffered from destructive floods and the local vegetable and fruit supply were badly affected. The cyclone season is approaching and in this regard, policies must be in place to ensure people can either grow or buy sufficient food.

This year’s theme focuses on Food For All, a universal right to all mankind. In 1996 the World Food Summit produced a global commitment to cut the number of hungry and malnourished half by 2015. This is the target of the Millennium Development Goal One, which is to “Eradicate Extreme Poverty and Hunger”.

This is a responsibility that requires a genuine effort not only by the International Community, but also by Regional Governments, National Governments and by all members of the society – individuals, civil society organizations, NGOs and the private sector. That is why a multi-sectorial approach are at the forefront of this fight by assessing the impact of their activities, promoting policies that have a positive impact on food security.

Ask Yourself. As citizens what can you do to correct the issue of food security, safety and quality in your own household?
You need to consider what you eat, make some hard decisions on what you grow in your school and backyard gardens?

Some fruit are always available in Fiji. How about growing some pawpaw and banana plants?  About some root crops? Cassava, dalo, kumala can be substituted for potatoes we consume in bag loads! What about some bele, rourou, churaiya and karmauya bhaichee? The planting will be physical activity that is good for everybody and nutritious food can be consumed with less cost against imported, tinned and processed food items.

Your children’s lunches are a shame. Children eat dry noodles/oily chips, as snacks and I know some kids who even throw away their Roti parcels because of peer pressure.
The Ministry of Health can work tirelessly with the new School health guidelines but you as parents will need to get involved with the running of School Canteens to rid the racks of Fizzy drinks, fried chips and replace with balanced food, fruit and fresh juices.

The Ministry of Education and Health will work towards a program of providing a free meal to all poor children if you can run your school canteens and reduce the profit margin the current operators target.  You must ask Your School Principal to make sure that home economics is taught to all students and that the science and practicals are matched.

Mothers need to be taught about food combinations so we do not provide meals only rich in Carbohydrates- roti and potato lunches. For dinner we must increase our vegetable ratio, and reduce our rice/cassava consumptions. Recall that Dhal was the poor mans meat in our young days. The family ate together and there was nothing like fast foods or the super sized fizzy drinks and meals from takeaways. Meat was eaten once a week. A tin of fish was a party and a tin of mutton was a special item once a year in my father’s household.
 You are what you eat. Your taste and choices are the problem not that we cannot plant and cook. We all are part of the problem and we can work to be part of the solution.  
The Government embraces the key objectives of the regional Pacific Plan (PP) for which it is party to and the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) on re-engineering.
-        Economic Growth                                
-        Sustainable Development
-        Good Governance
-        Poverty Alleviation

From a national perspective, and within the framework of the Government’s mandate, the Ministry of Health is working with the partner organizations to achieve a food secure Fiji, through the Food Summit planned from 14-16th October 2009.

The Pacific Plans and the Fiji Government’s mandate blend well and harmonize with each other. We need an organized and a concerted effort to tackle food insecurity at all levels by the society. The Fiji government has pursued some of its programmes jointly with the assistance of international agencies like the FAO, the Taiwan Technical Mission the Peoples Republic of China, the Republic of India, the Republic of Indonesia in areas of technology transfer, introduction of high yielding varieties with the long term objective of   increased productivity.

Focus need to be on identification of agricultural produce that could be grown locally in order to reduce imports. The Food Act of June 2009 now places control measures to look into the quality of imports coming into the country to compete with our local manufacturers.  

On World Food Day 2009, let us reflect on the work we need to undertake collectively to make sure that hunger is recognized as a critical problem and solve it.
The World Food Summit proposed by FAO for November 2009 could be fundamental for eradicating hunger. Finally, I would like to thank the World Food Day National Committee and the Nausori Rural Women’s Association for their organization and the various business houses who have contributed towards the successful staging of this World Food Day in Nausori.

With great pleasure that I now formally declare today’s World Food Day celebration at Waituri Hall, Nausori, open.

Thank you, vinaka vakalevu and dhanyabaad!

Neil Sharma

Minister of Health
07/10/2009