Pacific island countries should strongly support and invest in agriculture and locally produced foods to reduce import bills and improve nutrition, especially for quality and organic foods.
Chris Addison of the Netherlands’ based Technical Centre for Rural and Agricultural Cooperation (CTA) has revealed.
Speaking during a Pacific community agribusiness forum this week in Fiji, Addison said Governments should also consider strengthening farmer organisations and local producers’ efforts to find competitive and profitable markets in the tourism industry and meet the demand for volume, quality, regularity and safety requirements.
PNG’s Department of Agriculture and Livestock and Women in Agriculture are participating in the three-day forum which ends today.
“Sensitising tourism operators of the type and the quantity of locally grown produce and the value of sourcing locally” should also be considered in strengthen the linkages between tourism and agriculture, said Addison, who is a senior expert in CTA’s Knowledge Management Programme.
“Sensitise the chefs of resorts and hotels to use local products and very importantly to promote local and traditional cuisine amongst tourists which means also to adapt it to international standards,” Addison added.
“National policy frameworks for agriculture and tourism need to recognize the need for positive linkages and appropriate institutions need to be in place to foster them.”
The forum is organised by CTA, the Secretariat of the Pacific Community, South Pacific Tourism Organisation, the University of the South Pacific, Pacific Islands Private Sector Organisation.
CTA is a joint international institution of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) group of states and the European Union (EU) with the mission to advance food and nutritional security, increase prosperity and encourage sound natural resource management in the ACP countries.