A new ACIAR-supported project aiming to strengthen food systems for vulnerable communities in Timor-Leste and the Pacific with a focus on Kiribati, is underway following its inception meeting with research partners last month.
The A$2.5 million 3-year project builds on earlier research which made significant inroads into filling data gaps in the Pacific through the development of high-quality food and trade databases covering 12 Pacific island countries and territories.
Project leader Dr Anna Farmery, a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Wollongong's Australian National Centre for Oceans Resources and Security (ANCORS), said the availability and access to accurate data to make decisions across multiple scales remains a challenge for improved food security and nutrition in the Pacific.
'The research will build on this strong foundation of databases, while for Timor-Leste, which was not part of the earlier research, activities will focus on identifying the key nutrition, production and trade data sources and needs,' said Dr Farmery.
'In a lot of Small Island Developing States (SIDS), vulnerable communities can struggle to access enough food for healthy diets. Undernutrition and micronutrient deficiencies are a persistent challenge, especially for women and children.
'Available data show stunting prevalence rates in children average 20% in Pacific island countries and around 47% in Timor-Leste. The triple burden of malnutrition-the cohabitation of undernutrition, overnutrition and micronutrient deficiencies-is being experienced by many countries at the same time.'
Dr Farmery added that the team will support their research partners to make informed decisions on the respective challenges facing Pacific island food systems, using a combination of food-related databases, collaborative governance approaches and new analytical tools to measure the health of local food environments, developed with on-the-ground community engagement.
ACIAR Research Program Manager, Social Systems, Dr Todd Sanderson, said the project seeks to answer how food systems can support healthy and resilient communities in Timor-Leste and the Pacific region and how to increase the scope and ambition of the region's food systems research.
'While significant progress has been made toward improving food system governance at regional and national levels in the Pacific, a range of challenges for policy coordination and effectiveness were identified through consultation with food system stakeholders,' said Dr Sanderson.
'Through previous research, the project team highlighted the need for improved food systems data and training in the use of data to inform national policy to address food system challenges. The research set the foundational structure for food system analysis at multi-scale levels and the current project now aims to build and strengthen these key strategies to address remaining key data gaps, including the harmonisation of different databases.
'Further skill development is needed to operationalise policy goals for healthy local diets and for food system resilience. Local expertise is needed in understanding and governing informal and traditional food environments for positive change.'
The project, which is scheduled to run until September 2026, will partner with CSIRO, WorldFish, The Pacific Community (SPC), the University of Sydney and the National Council for Sovereignty, Food Security and Nutrition in Timor-Leste (CONSSAN-TL).
Senior Research Analyst at WorldFish Timor-Leste, Mr Acacio Sarmento, said it will help reinforce CONSSAN-TL priorities and collect evidence to improve the outcomes of good governance of food systems.
'To make meaningful progress, it is critical that all stakeholders are actively involved. Our policies and strategies must be designed to effectively contribute to improved food security and nutrition for the entire population,' said Mr Sarmento.
Director of the Kiribati Ministry of Environment, Lands and Agricultural Development (MELAD), Ms Kinaai Kairo said, food security challenges and poor diet quality is a growing concern in Kiribati.
'With the inclusion of Kiribati in the project, we believe, it will identify issues common to remote communities or atoll island nations facing considerable challenges on the road to food security and offer policy recommendations on how to address it,' said Ms Kairo.
As part of the project implementation, two Pacific nationals will be sponsored through post-doctoral placements, one at the University of Wollongong and the other at the University of the South Pacific.
Learn more about the project via the ACIAR website.
