Secretary for Agriculture Temarama Anguna-Kamana says there is a decline in agriculture and local fisheries due to limited land, labour constraints and tourism competition as well as climate change.

Cook Islands National Food System Dialogue, a first for the Cook Island was held last week, where Anguna-Kamana addressed this.

The dialogue aims to help people better understand and assess the nations’ food practice, operations, and its relevance to national priorities, and this was attended by 80 farming, fishing, government and private sector stakeholders.

The dialogue aims to also further develop understanding of the challenges faced in the Cook Islands food system and identify solutions, assist in the determination of what goals and issues are most important to develop the ‘Cook Islands National Food System Pathway’.

Anguna-Kamana said: “The Cook Islands is heavily reliant on food imports (23.7 per cent of total imports), increasing its vulnerability to global price shocks.”

She said there is also a decline in agriculture and local fisheries due to limited land suitable for growing crops, water shortages and labour constraints as a result of competition with tourism, and climate risks.

As well as health concerns in regards to the alarming rate of obesity (55.9 per cent in 2016) and other non-communicable diseases (NCDs) that underline the urgent need for nutrition-focused strategies.

Although there is significant home agriculture to provide for families, Anguna-Kamana said these production levels are not sufficient to meet demand.

She said: “This is a collective effort and the feedback will help develop the new agriculture sector strategy. At the end of the day we need food security and access to healthy, nutritious and affordable food.

“With your support, we can carry out transformative actions, your leadership and contributions can inspire a unified, evidence-based approach to building resilient food systems for the Cook Islands, ensuring sustainable and equitable outcomes for all,” Anguna-Kamana said.

Kaina Karaponga from Manihiki who was in Rarotonga for the dialogue has his own family vegetable garden and taro plot.

Karaponga: “In Manihiki we rely on hydroponics for our vegetables (tomatoes, capsicum, bok choy, cucumbers), but we do have home gardens as well that we compost with leaves.”

He said since there are more high tides from the effects of climate change he believes more hydroponic systems would be useful to grow more healthy food in Manihiki.

The dialogue is to identify current local food systems’ strengths, gaps, challenges, learnings and any changes that will ensure a sustainable food production and sourcing ecosystem, appropriate resourcing, healthy diets for all and the wellbeing of Cook Islands people, culture and environment. The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) and Fiasili Lam from FAO Samoa, assisted with the meeting.