TOPIC 'Environment' on Dec 08, 2008 (CET)
Addressing the food crisis in Fiji
The poverty level in Fiji is estimated to be 34 percent, according to Professor Warden Narsey, a university economist in Fiji. Careful calculations lead to an affected population of at nearly 300,000 persons. Poverty is a direct result of inadequate basic life necessities, such as clean water, food supply, available land, and shelter. It is a surety that climate change, bioenergy, and food security are having a significant impact on the population of Fiji.
This year’s World Food Day had a theme of “World Food Security: The Challenges of Climate Change and Bioenergy.” It is of the utmost importance to point out that these issues don’t affect a few, but affect many. It is estimated that, across the globe, two billion people lack what is termed “food security” due to varying levels of poverty. World Food Day, organized by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), is designed to bring awareness to this issue.
The Minister of Primary Industries (MPI) in Fiji, Mr. Joketani Cokanasiga, has a plan to help. The Minister has stated that if residents in Fiji use what they already have in their possession, their back yards, to plant food and put the soil to productive use, a partial answer may be found. Early in 2008, Minister Cokanasiga offered a plan, the “plant five a day campaign,” to encourage individuals to get involved in planting crops in their backyards. Since that time, an educational program has also been put in place to assist those new to farming and a competition established as an incentive called the “Great Teitei Competition” to promote backyard farming.
A Fiji student, Joana Temo, from Vunimono Arya School in Nausori, Class Eight, gave a powerful speech to those in attendance at Syria Park in Nausori on October 16. She emphasized the importance of food security and agriculture to the citizens of Fiji. Ms. Temo is striving to understand and relate the importance of biofuels to the future economy of Fiji and, at the same time, connecting to the realization that both crops for consumption and crops for biofuels need to be grown to see betterment in Fiji’s society. It is challenging for many countries to find a middle ground.
Sherry Irvin
on behalf of the
BascoTec Internet Limited
Technologie Park 13
33100 Paderborn
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