FAO calls for prompt action to boost food security and nutrition in PSIDS
The Pacific Small Island Developing States (PSIDS) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) co-organized in May a virtual briefing for PSIDS Permanent Representatives to the United Nations to address the impacts of COVID-19 on food security and nutrition in the islands and discuss policy responses.
The briefing was moderated by Ambassador Satyendra Prasad, Chair of PSIDS and Permanent Representative of Fiji to the United Nations. In his opening remarks Ambassador Prasad highlighted that the pandemic has magnified challenges related to food security across the Pacific region by causing disruptions in travel and effectively shutting down the tourism sector, which is a major source of revenue for all PSIDS.
Carla Mucavi, Director of FAO’s Liaison Office to the United Nations in New York, remarked on the importance of delivering tailored solutions for PSIDS at the country level, while placing PSIDS as priority areas for support in the international cooperation agenda.
The virtual briefing featured keynote presentations by Angélica Jácome, Director of FAO’s Office for Small Island Developing States, Least Developed Countries and Landlocked Developing Countries, Eriko Hibi, FAO Sub-regional Coordinator for the Pacific Islands and John Preissing, Deputy-Director from FAO’s Investment Centre.
Jácome noted that, prior to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, PSIDS were highly vulnerable to climate change and natural disasters and reliant on food imports. This, in turn, rendered PSIDS more vulnerable to the effects of COVID-19, particularly on their food security and nutrition. She highlighted possible measures to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 in two stages: in the short-term, focusing on areas such as providing emergency food assistance and offering a safety net and social protection programmes to protect the most vulnerable; and, in the longer term, priorities could include scaling up the Global Action Programme for Food Security and Nutrition for SIDS and investing in areas such as infrastructure for agriculture and rural areas.
Hibi emphasized the structural nature of the COVID impact on the food systems in the Pacific, emphasizing how it affects the entire spectrum of food systems such as supply chains, production, trade, market functions, purchasing power, consumer behavior and importantly overall economy. It was noted that the pandemic impact arrives to the Pacific where vulnerabilities pre-exist –high reliance on imported food and international trade, susceptibility to external economic shocks, climate change and natural disasters. The most important pre-existing vulnerability is the triple burden of malnutrition and high rates of diet related noncommunicable diseases, based on which the current Country Programming Framework (CPF) 2018-22 had been designed. PSIDS economy relies heavily on remittances, tourism and fishing licensing revenue, all of which have been disrupted due to restrictive measures put in place to contain the spread of COVID-19. To counter the threat to food security, Hibi explained that FAO was working on the ground with governments, regional organizations and other SIDS partners, to boost domestic food production by supporting small-scale farmers and fisheries through distributions of seeds, tools and livestock packages, re-invigorating local fish markets and support to female vendors, and technical assistance to increase their capacity to process and conserve vegetables, fish and livestock. FAO has also scaled up the support to make relevant data and statistics available, including resuming support for suspended activities such as agriculture censuses in Fiji and Samoa, food security analysis through provision of baselines based on past HIESs. She added that FAO received additional resources through the SG’s MPTF funding and was adjusting current projects and funding in agreement with member states and donors. Most importantly Hibi underscored the continued relevance and importance of the existing approaches under the CPF to strengthen nutrition sensitive food systems in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Preissing also pointed to the urgent need for policy and fiscal measures to continue FAO’s efforts to reduce poverty and inequalities and foster economic growth in PSIDS. He said that FAO was working with countries and international financing institutions to reorient investment programmes to address COVID-19 challenges on agri-food systems, particularly with the World Bank, the International Fund for Agriculture Development and the Global Agriculture and Food Security Program.
As part of its corporate response to COVID-19, FAO has also published the policy brief “SIDS Response to COVID-19: highlighting food security, nutrition and sustainable food system”, that looks at COVID-19 related impacts and responses. The brief is available here and is part of a collection of policy briefs that assesses the pandemic’s impacts on people’s lives, livelihoods and nutrition as well as on food trade, food supply chains and markets.
More information on the virtual briefing “PSIDS, COVID-19 and Food Security and Nutrition: Impacts and Responses” is available here, including Carla Mucavi’s welcoming remarks and Eriko Hibi’s presentation.