What is food security?
The global population is increasing, CSIRO Australia an Australian Government Research Organisation reported that in 2010 the global population was 6.8 billion and by 2050 it would reach over 9 billion. This means that global food production will have to increase by 70 per cent to meet the demands. Out of this 6.8 billion, 2.8 billion people live directly from agricultural systems (FAO, 2005). Our challenge, globally, will be to increase food production in a manner that does not cause environmental degradation. The challenge is further complicated by climate change, unpredictable weather patterns coupled with increased demands on food production means that for survival we will have to grow wiser in the ways of agriculture.
We are blessed in PNG because we don’t need to go to university to learn about how to support ourselves from the land, 85% of our population still holds this knowledge. Small farmers are vital to the worlds’ food security, of the 525 million farms world wide 85%, below two hectares (20,000sqm).
This the World Food and Agricultural Organisation’s (FAO) definition for “food security”:
“Food security exists when all people, at all times, have physical, social and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food which meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life” (FAO, 2001).
When you have a regular income and are able to buy the foods that your heart desires, there is no question of whether you, as an individual have food security. You feel secure food wise because when you’re hungry your food is nothing but a swipe of your card away. BUT…what if something happened and the food stopped coming to the shops. If an environmental disaster hits another country on which we are dependent on for food, what will happen to those of you who are living in the urban populations where you do not have ease of access to the land?
It is important that we as a country develop agricultural policies that will ensure our local food security. We need to be able to feed ourselves with what we have got here and then compliment that with what we are unable to grow in country. We need to identify the areas in this country which low risks to sea level rise, flooding and drought and focus on developing the agricultural capacity to be able to meet our own countries current and growing food demand.
In 2012 PNG imported 170,000 metric tonnes of rice, that is 170 million kilograms of rice which if sold at an average of an of K4.00 per 1kg rice means that as a collective Papua New Guineans spend K680 million per year on rice alone. World average of rice yield per hectare is 4 tonnes, which means rice growing would require 425,000 hectares of land to produce our own rice demands.
In Papua New Guinean rural areas if weather conditions are conducive to planting and harvesting regular food crops then there is food security but our main issues are that of the nutritious food crops, crop diversity and climate change and we need to be more organised with our agricultural producing provinces. Markham Valley for example in Morobe has been predicted to be the “Food Bowl of the Nation” however little has been done to support this claim. We have the agricultural soil the flat land but in order for this to be secure we will need water sources for irrigation in case of drought and for the dry season.
In developed nations and urban Papua New Guinea, food security is up to the individual, you have got to be wise, find out where your food comes from where it was grown how it was grown is it clean and free of chemicals, because if you don’t find out then your food security is compromised and the food which you think is nutritious and that meets all your dietary needs could actually be eroding your health as chemicals build up in your fatty tissues resulting in cancers and other life style diseases such as diabetes . Those who are living in urban PNG and do not earn income that is fit to buy them the right foods to meet their dietary needs are also at risk of lifestyle disease not out of choice but their economic situation does not allow for food security. Flour balls, snax biscuits and scones become the staple foods and betul nut a necessity because of its appetite suppressing qualities. Taro, kaukau (sweet potato) and tapioca become a food for the elite, ibika costs an arm and a leg and watermelons cost you a quarter of your salary (K50 at Malaro Market, Port Moresby), how could you possibly eat healthy let alone eat foods that are of your preference.
The only solution is to go back to the land it may take time but you can establish gardens of health that will provide all the safe and nutritious food which meets your dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life. The excess food produced by your gardens can then be sold at the market.
Next time you go to the shops have a look on the shelves and find out what is produced and manufactured in PNG. We need to start getting more patriotic about our own food. We are the consumers. Let us determine what is sold. Production depends on supply. Stop buying imported tea, and coffee, buy local jam and honey, local eggs and chicken, local meat and local fruits and vegetables and if you have to buy anything imported try to minimise your consumption. If you don’t believe me have a look yourself. I know that Boroko Food World has a fruit and vegetable isle one for local foods and one for imports. It’s a joke when we are importing pumpkins, cucumbers, potatoes and tomatoes. Please…it is definitely not cool to buy imports. It is wasteful and thoughtless. Wake up and smell the highlands coffee fellow citizens.
I felt so proud of our rural farmers when I read in a report funded by the EU Funded Facilitating Agricultural Commodity Trade Project on Pacific Island Taro Market Access, that Papua New Guinea is ranked as the 5th largest producer of taro in the world, producing 285,000 tonnes of taro per year, not only that but we consume it all in country. You can compare this to Fiji which is ranked 14th in global production of taro, producing 74,009 tonnes of taro per year but is ranked 2nd globally for taro exports, exporting an estimated 12,661 tonnes of taro every year.
It is not cool to drink coffee that is roasted in Italy, chances are that it came from our very own coffee growers travelled across the ocean, was roasted in Italy then sent back to you at a higher price tag. Its wasteful in this day and age when we should be more sensitive to climate change issues and our ecological footprints. Act local think global. Come on you all know about all this don’t you? Snap out of it and start thinking for yourselves.
While I was at university in Australia, I began questioning my own ability to support my own life food wise. I remember thinking what would happen if there was a massive natural disaster in Australia and there was no supply of fresh food and food supplies to the shops were cut off? Where and how would I eat? I don’t know how to hunt local kangaroos, I don’t have a garden and I have no knowledge of Australian bush food.
Then I remembered my childhood days of playing in the village garden, eating fresh pawpaw and roasting bananas on the fire, climbing guava tress and thought to myself that I needed to go home, back to PNG and learn how to keep myself alive from the land.
Our aim as a family is to become self-sustainable and to reduce the amount of money that we spend at the shops. For three years now my husband and I have ventured back into the rural life with peace and acceptance that this is the good life, this is what God always intended for His children, a harmonious relationship with the land, the plants and the animals. We are living out of the urban matrix, we call it going back to Eden. By trusting in God we have been able to start this journey.
In a country where there is so much agricultural soil, I believe that it is imperative that every individual should have the basic knowledge that our ancestors used to keep our bloodlines alive and healthy with and that is the ability to produce your own food from our own hands for our own families and communities.
Food security is an issue on so many different levels of society. We all need to eat but how do you get your food and where does it come from and do you know what was put on that fruit or vegetable. Do you know what was fed to the animal flesh that ends up on your plate? This word is truth, “You are what you eat”.
If you are happy living ignorantly, go ahead. This is just some food for thought.
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