Traditional food production and food sharing practices help rural Pacific Island communities weather COVID-19 impacts, study finds S

Excerpt from spc.int

A newly published, seven-country study found that in rural Pacific Island communities that have maintained traditional practices around food production were better able to weather the initial impacts of COVID-19.

“From sago farming in Papua New Guinea to community gardening in Fiji to taro patching and traditional food preservation techniques in the Federated States of Micronesia, communities maintaining the old ways fared better,” said Teri Tuxson, of the Locally-Managed Marine Area Network, which coordinated the study published in the journal, Marine Policy.

Traditional food practices also included food sharing, which involves sharing food along kinship lines, but also with anyone in a community who lacks it, including the elderly, single mothers, widows, and recent arrivals from urban areas who have not had time to plant.

In areas where the traditional practice of sharing food was still practiced, reports of food insecurity were significantly lower, the study reported.

“It was inspiring to see Pacific Island communities, which are founded on solidarity, reciprocity and collective support, provided social safety nets in these hard times,” said lead author, Dr. Caroline Ferguson, of Stanford University.

The study authors said the findings suggest that policy in the Pacific should bolster sustainable local food production and practices to better position rural Pacific communities in the face of unprecedented change globally.

The LMMA Network worked with partners in Micronesia, Fiji, PNG, Solomon Islands, Tonga and Tuvalu to conduct the study. In Palau, the study was conducted by Stanford University, working through the Ebiil Society.

The study began its surveys in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, and were conducted over a year, in 199 villages. With COVID-19 travel restrictions, the study was also driven by local researchers across the region and the published study featured several first time Pacific Island authors.

While many countries in the Pacific did not see widespread outbreaks, COVID-19 led to international border closures, tourism downturns, school closings, market restriction and employment loss that caused hardships throughout the region. The rapid surveys were initially conducted to provide governments with rapid insights to support response efforts.