Food security should not be treated in isolation from nutrition security.

This has been emphasized by Minister for Agriculture Vatimi Rayalu while opening the Global Community Food and Health Stakeholders workshop.

The workshop serves as a platform for stakeholders to participate in food mapping exercises.

[Source: Ministry of Agriculture/ Facebook]

Rayalu is calling for a concerted effort from stakeholders to address the NCD crisis.

“Let’s teach our people to eat the right kind of food. Let’s make a concerted effort to not only plant food for food security but also be heavily conscious about the nutrition side of food. Fiji is a blessed country, and anything can be grown here. But yet, we still have cases of malnutrition and people who are suffering from diseases that are diet-related.”

Rayalu says there is a need for Fijians to change their dietary habits given the high incidence of non-communicable diseases in the country.

He adds that food and nutrition security is paramount because when the people of a nation are well fed, then you can start thinking about economic development.