Hon. Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries address UN Food Systems Summit 2021

Heads of State and Government

Honourable Ministers

UN Secretary-General, Mr. António Guterres,

Distinguished Delegates,

Ladies and Gentlemen

This Global Food Summit is timely, as we strive to achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The COVID-19 and climate change parallel challenges, call for game-changing systemic solutions.  Border restrictions and disruptions in food supply chains further emphasize the importance of sustainable food systems.  The challenge for us in the Pacific is to put in place resilient food systems and to recognize the critical importance of integrating what the land produces and the bounty provided by our ocean. 

Food remains an integral part of the Samoan culture with ties to our land and ocean.  Increased dependence on imported processed foods, fueled by changing dietary habits; vulnerability to climate change, rising burden of Non-Communicable Diseases (NCD), and inherent limitations of a small island economy, pose challenges in ensuring sustainable food systems that can cater for Samoa’s growing population. A sustainable ocean platform recognizes that everyone has a part to play in food security and nutritious food for all.

Excellencies,

With the support from the United Nations, we completed our Samoa Food Systems Pathway 2030, as an outcome of our national food system dialogues. This paves the way to transform our food systems for a resilient and healthy Samoa.

Five key systemic solutions to transform our national food systems and also help achieve the 2030 Agenda include:

• Transforming our food production sector and strengthening an enabling environment to be able to deliver sufficient quantities of affordable, quality and safe food for improved nutritional wellbeing.
• Review and tailor food policies to encourage change in consumer behaviour and dietary attitudes and ensure outreach to marginalized groups, in the informal agriculture sector. These are essential to support a shift towards a healthy and nutritional balanced eating lifestyle and food culture.
• Revitalise and promote the use of traditional and indigenous knowledge in sustainable agricultural practices.
•  Facilitate effective engagement of vulnerable groups including women and youth in food system discussions and food value chains, to ensure equitable livelihoods in the food sector.  This will encourage an informed role of communities and culture in the development of our food systems.
• Implement effective social protection measures to provide contingent responses and safety nets to cushion the impacts of shocks on food supply and consumption.

For our transformation to be successful, it requires collective commitment, investment and adequate resourcing. Strong leadership and partnerships as well as good stakeholder collaboration are vital to the effective implementation of our pathway initiatives.

Excellencies,

It has been an honour and privilege for Samoa to be part of the Food Systems Summit process over the last 18 months. The solutions highlighted throughout this summit will drive transformative actions, and contribute to the UN Decade of Action to deliver the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.

Thank you for your attention and God bless.