Fiji Commerce and Employers Federation Chief Executive Kameli Batiweti.

Fijians can cushion the impacts of global supply chain issues affecting food prices such as flour, by transitioning to other local alternatives.

With the Ukraine-Russian conflict causing global wheat and flour prices to increase, Fijians have been reminded of the abundance of resources.

Fiji Commerce and Employers Federation Chief Executive Kameli Batiweti says it’s time to think about local substitutes which are not affected by global constraints.

“We’ve got cassava, uto, kumala, dalo and those can be converted into flour. I saw recently one of the industry partners tested out cassava and uto flour. So for those with NCDs, uto and kumala, there are alternatives and its just for someone to coordinate it.”

The Ministry of Agriculture and the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) Fiji has been instrumental in rolling out cassava flour to some communities around the country.