Strengthening food safety in the Pacific

Fiji, an IAEA Member State since 2012, is faced with specific sustainable development challenges that are common to small island developing States (SIDS), including high vulnerability to the impacts of climate change (such as ocean acidification, rising sea levels, increased soil salinity, dwindling groundwater resources and lower crop productivity), weak human health infrastructures, small economies of scale, and great distances between the islands of the archipelago.

Fiji is currently making efforts to establish basic radiation and nuclear safety infrastructure in line with the IAEA Basic Safety Standards. This is a precondition for any IAEA support which involves delivery of radiation sources, including those for use in medicine, agriculture and industry.

Fiji has a relatively small agriculture-based economy which depends heavily on export market earnings. Fruit exports are hindered by the presence of three species of fruit fly, which seriously affect the quality of Fijian export products such as okra, papaya, breadfruit, mango, eggplant and chili. The IAEA is currently supporting Fiji in this area through two IAEA technical cooperation projects that focus on enabling sustainable fruit production by controlling fruit flies, and on increasing agro-industry productivity and exports of fresh fruits and vegetables.

“The partnership between the Pacific Community and the IAEA creates a platform for joint scientific cooperation to bring the best of each organization’s capacity to bear on development issues which are a priority for Pacific countries. We look forward to developing a concrete programme of work based on quality science and technical expertise for sustainable development,” Cameron Diver, Deputy Director-General, Pacific Community said.

Pacific Community and the IAEA signed a Practical Agreement in 2017, with the aim of promoting the building of capacity in the Pacific Islands to use nuclear techniques, such as mutation breeding, to strengthen food security in the region.

Original source: IAEA
Published on 13 August 2018