1 September 2016: The second Pacific Agribusiness Forum discussed opportunities for sustainable food systems in the Pacific region, including possibilities for producing added-value and processed food, improving farmers’ access to markets, and ensuring compliance with quality standards.

The three-day session in Apia, Samoa, brought together around 100 representatives of the private sector, farmers’ organizations, policy makers, research networks, development practitioners and international organizations. The Forum was organized on the theme of ‘Linking the Agrifood Sector to the Local Markets for Economic Growth and Improved Food and Nutrition Security.’ Several organizations cooperated to organize the forum, including: the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the Pacific Private Sector Organisation (PIPSO), and an EU initiative known as the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA), supported by the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC), the South Pacific Tourism Organisation (SPTO), the Samoa Tourism Authority (STA), the Samoan Chamber of Commerce and the Pacific Cooperation Foundation.

Participants discussed business opportunities and branding strategies as chances to promote health and nutrition in Pacific Island countries, which are experiencing high rates of obesity and non-communicable diseases (NCDs), in part due to changes from traditional diets to a reliance on imported, calorie-dense foods. In a panel discussion with speakers from commercial and regional development banks, participants discussed ways to improve financing access for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in agribusiness. In another panel discussion, participants considered the prospects for promoting the region as a quality food destination. Representatives of the tourism and hospitality industries suggested promoting traditional Pacific cuisine, which includes seafood, root vegetables and leafy greens. They added that a critical aspect of developing local agribusiness will be ensuring food safety standards for the whole region, adding that “exotic” products, such as the kava drink, need further research before production standards can be enacted.

Forum organizers announced that a clear plan of action will be developed from the recommendations emerging from the panel discussions and workshops, which included: creating information exchange programmes on a regional basis; collaborating to protect biosecurity; developing value chains; providing quality assurance; promoting climate-smart farming; and developing herbal medicine, pharmaceuticals and other therapeutic products, referred to as “nutraceuticals.’

The Pacific Agribusiness Forum is an annual event launched at the Third International Conference on Small Island Development States (SIDS) that took place in September 2014. A workshop on ‘Women in Agribusiness’ took place on the first day of the forum. [IFAD Press Release] [CTA Press Release] [Background Note] [2nd Agribusiness Forum Website]