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Build food security: Professor Narayan

June 17, 2022 4:50 pm

Fiji needs to build its food security to counter any destabilizing event that is affecting global economies.

This is the view of Monash University academic, Professor Paresh Narayan, who says that with leading economies like the US heading for an imminent recession, the cost of doing business is going to increase.

Professor Narayan says with the cost of imported foods increasing, Fijians need to start changing their spending habits on food and depend on locally-grown food.

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“Because food security does not only come from a recession, but also from climate change. So I think it’s a good opportunity for policy makers to come up with innovative ways of how we can build our food security. Which makes it resilient to not only a recession or pandemic but to any sort of major disasters in the future.”

Professor Narayan says the fall-out from the developments occurring around the globe, with major economies such as the US and UK central banks increasing interest rates, will be felt in Fiji in the near future.

He says policymakers in Fiji will be tested on how well they will navigate the country out of the economic storm that is brewing around the world.