Vanuatu looks to local food production for a resilient future
As COVID-19 devastates tourism, Vanuatu looks to build a disaster-resilient, sustainable future by learning about and producing local Indigenous foods.
For Vanuatu-based nutritionist, entrepreneur, and local food advocate Votausi Lucyann Mackenzie-Reur, economic migration and the rise of the tourist economy — as well as the growing availability of cheap imported foods — have had a major impact on food security in the island nation. She said many of her fellow Ni-Vanuatu have forgotten how to grow, cook, preserve, and consume local, Indigenous foods over the last 50 years.
“Food security, climate change, and biodiversity can all be tackled by promoting and advocating the use of local traditional foods,” Mackenzie-Reur said. “We don’t need science to tell us that the foods and diets that sustained us for centuries are better.”
In 1999, Mackenzie-Reur founded Lapita, originally a casual eatery that has since grown into a catering business based in the capital of Vila, selling local ingredients to restaurants, tourists, and resorts.
To address the social and cultural barriers that were preventing people from choosing, growing, and preserving local foods, in 2019 she became a co-host of “Pacific Island Food Revolution,” a television series supported by the Australian and New Zealand governments that is broadcast throughout the region, promoting the use of local ingredients through a friendly competition between aspiring Pacific chefs.
Nutritionist and entrepreneur Votausi Lucyann Mackenzie-Reur advocates for the production and consumption of Vanuatu’s traditional foods. Photo: Nicky Kuautonga
“We chose television because we knew we’d reach people in the Pacific,” said Robert Oliver, global executive director of “Pacific Island Food Revolution.” “These are cultures of oration, of people talking to each other.”
According to Mackenzie-Reur, local food production in Vanuatu has decreased in the past 20 years due to a variety of factors. Video: Nicky Kuautonga
According to Mackenzie-Reur, local food production in Vanuatu has decreased in the past 20 years due to a variety of factors. Video: Nicky Kuautonga
According to Mackenzie-Reur, the Vanuatu government is on board now too, promoting the use of local foods as a response to COVID-19 since an over-reliance on imports has become a clear social, health, and economic risk.
“In Vanuatu, if the ships stop coming for a month, a lot of people are going to starve because they rely on imported rice,” she said. “Now is the time that we need to focus on our production.”
Mackenzie-Reur's company, Lapita Café Limited, sources its ingredients from local farmers. Photo: Nicky Kuautonga
Producing more local food connects to larger issues in the small island nation. Vanuatu is one of the world’s most disaster-prone countries, so food security increasingly means creating mechanisms to ensure that residents have access to food immediately after disaster hits — especially since climate change is expected to make such disasters more frequent and intense.
Building a local food economy, as Mackenzie-Reur is striving to do, and using initiatives to empower local food producers following a disaster are key to helping the country become more sustainable and secure after a challenging 2020.
Nutritionist and entrepreneur Votausi Lucyann Mackenzie-Reur advocates for the production and consumption of Vanuatu’s traditional foods. Photo: Nicky Kuautonga
Nutritionist and entrepreneur Votausi Lucyann Mackenzie-Reur advocates for the production and consumption of Vanuatu’s traditional foods. Photo: Nicky Kuautonga
Mackenzie-Reur's company, Lapita Café Limited, sources its ingredients from local farmers. Photo: Nicky Kuautonga
Mackenzie-Reur's company, Lapita Café Limited, sources its ingredients from local farmers. Photo: Nicky Kuautonga
Nuts sourced from rural farmers are processed at Lapita's kitchens in Port Vila, capital of Vanuatu. Photo: Nicky Kuautonga
Nuts sourced from rural farmers are processed at Lapita's kitchens in Port Vila, capital of Vanuatu. Photo: Nicky Kuautonga
Mackenzie-Reur says many of her fellow Ni-Vanuatu have forgotten how to grow, cook, preserve, and consume local, Indigenous foods over the last 50 year. Photo: Nicky Kuautonga.
Mackenzie-Reur says many of her fellow Ni-Vanuatu have forgotten how to grow, cook, preserve, and consume local, Indigenous foods over the last 50 year. Photo: Nicky Kuautonga.
Mackenzie-Reur buys good from the local marketplace in Port Vila, Vanuatu. Building a local food economy is key to helping Vanuatu become more sustainable and secure. Photo: Nicky Kuautonga
Mackenzie-Reur buys good from the local marketplace in Port Vila, Vanuatu. Building a local food economy is key to helping Vanuatu become more sustainable and secure. Photo: Nicky Kuautonga
Addressing post-disaster gaps
Vanuatu was among the first countries in the world to close its borders to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in March 2020 and has remained one of the few nations without local transmission. Still, Vanuatu is also dealing with the impacts of the pandemic due to the economy’s reliance on tourism, which has accounted for about 50% of gross domestic product. In many ways, the economic impacts of COVID-19 are similar to a natural disaster, especially in how they affect the ability of residents to purchase food.
“Thousands of people have either lost their jobs, been given reduced hours, or been put on leave without pay,” said Luke Ebbs, Vanuatu country director at Save the Children. “This has reduced household income, meaning people have less money for health care and nutritious food.”
Weeks after the borders closed, Vanuatu was hit by a Category 5 tropical cyclone, Harold, devastating the northern part of the country. It has become an all-too-common experience due to climate change.
“Food security, climate change, and biodiversity can all be tackled by promoting and advocating the use of local traditional foods. We don’t need science to tell us that the foods and diets that sustained us for centuries are better.”
“Vanuatu is highly vulnerable to natural disasters impacting food security, and this is made more serious by the effects of climate change,” Ebbs said. “Disasters destroy food gardens and subsistence agriculture, upon which most Ni-Vanuatu rely for the main source of food.”
Another organization working on addressing food security in post-disaster situations is Oxfam in Vanuatu. It learned through experience that the typical disaster response — shipping rice and tinned fish to affected communities — was only addressing immediate food needs in the island nation and not providing support to local agriculture and food distribution networks such as farmers, fishers, and vendors who could fill the food security gap.
“We need to re-inject aid money into the economy to improve food purchasing power but also vendors' recovery and presence,” said Sandra Uwantege Hart, blockchain innovations and cash transfer lead for Oxfam in Vanuatu.
A vendor takes part in Oxfam's UnBlocked Cash program in Vanuatu's second largest city, Luganville, located on the island Espiritu Santo. Photo: Arlene Bax/Oxfam in Vanuatu
A vendor takes part in Oxfam's UnBlocked Cash program in Vanuatu's second largest city, Luganville, located on the island Espiritu Santo. Photo: Arlene Bax/Oxfam in Vanuatu
A cash transfer system could address this, but banks are limited in rural regions of Vanuatu and proved to be insufficient distributors, according to Hart. So Oxfam came up with an innovative solution: using blockchain technology to develop an app and card vouchers that could be distributed by partner organizations.
This would provide quick payments to residents that could be redeemed with a network of vendors, including farmers, fishers, and fresh food sellers, ready and able to accept them. Called UnBlocked Cash, the project utilized global technology, but the design and implementation are highly localized.
The UnBlocked Cash program uses blockchain technology to provide cash assistance to communities affected by Cyclone Harold and the COVID-19 crisis. Photo: Arlene Bax/Oxfam in Vanuatu
The UnBlocked Cash program uses blockchain technology to provide cash assistance to communities affected by Cyclone Harold and the COVID-19 crisis. Photo: Arlene Bax/Oxfam in Vanuatu
Local developers built the backbone infrastructure, and Oxfam conducted focus groups with target communities and vendors, altering the design and updating the system based on their feedback.
“It’s a digital ‘last mile’ to reach people where banking doesn’t exist and [bootstrap] the local economy and capacity of local food production,” Hart said.
Currently, the program is operating in areas affected by Cyclone Harold and volcanic ash in Tafea province, and it will soon be expanded to assist communities in Shefa province that have been impacted by the loss of tourism income due to COVID-19.
Sanma province, Vanuatu: People queue to be registered into Oxfam's Unblocked Cash Program. Photo: Arlene Bax/Oxfam in Vanuatu
Sanma province, Vanuatu: People queue to be registered into Oxfam's Unblocked Cash Program. Photo: Arlene Bax/Oxfam in Vanuatu
Of course, local food production and distribution capacity needs to be built before a disaster hits. That is why a key component of “Pacific Island Food Revolution” is identifying and empowering “food warriors.”
One of the winners of the show’s first season was Vanuatu resident Leonid Vusilai, who has gone from aspiring chef to local food advocate. He is currently working with the Vanuatu Skills Partnership’s Farm to Table program in rural regions, helping small restaurants include food from local farmers on their menus and also helping set up the Sanma Agri Food Trade Association to better connect farmers and chefs.
Leonid Vusilai, the winner of season 1 of “Pacific Island Food Revolution”, has gone from aspiring chef to local food advocate. Photo: Faanati Mamea/PIFR
Leonid Vusilai, the winner of season 1 of “Pacific Island Food Revolution”, has gone from aspiring chef to local food advocate. Photo: Faanati Mamea/PIFR
Another initiative focused on building local food-growing and -consuming capacity is the Agricultural Development for Tanna’s Economic Growth program from World Vision in Vanuatu, which includes a climate and nutrition component and has been running since 2016.
Focused on Tanna Island in the South of the country, the program supports local farmers in climate-proofing their farms by improving farm productivity and farming techniques for traditional crops such as taro and kava. This includes building nurseries, intercropping, and alley-cropping techniques, along with training in food preservation and storage.
“Vanuatu is highly vulnerable to natural disasters impacting food security, and this is made more serious by the effects of climate change. Disasters destroy food gardens and subsistence agriculture, upon which most Ni-Vanuatu rely for the main source of food.”
While Oxfam’s and World Vision’s efforts, among others, are having measurable impacts, they remain limited in scope, and Vanuatu as a whole faces a funding gap due to the uncertain economic future. There’s no sign yet for when the country’s borders will reopen, but it's not likely to be anytime soon. What was initially hoped to be just a few months of lost tourism income now looks to be a multiple-year hit, with no certainty about when the industry will recover.
As a response, the Vanuatu government announced a stimulus package amounting to tens of millions of dollars, which — besides providing assistance to those who have lost employment — aims to invest in the agricultural economy and food security. Building on this is the government’s broader food security response plan, released in mid-2020, which promotes backyard gardening by providing root crop and vegetable seedlings. It also aims to help residents set up small fish farms with free tilapia fingerlings and feed.
“[It’s] a bold move. The majority of money they [the government] would have spent on tourism will instead go into agriculture in this year's budget,” said Kendra Derousseau, Vanuatu country director for World Vision. “A lot of the emphasis of that funding is on diversification of crops for nutrition, as well as access to improved markets.”
Achieving these goals will be a challenge, and there are already concerns that the government will not be able to provide the amount of funds needed. According to research analyst Phoebe Sleet, international aid has a key role to play since Vanuatu is small and remote and agricultural efforts can only grow so much.
“For a small island state, it's going to be hard to diversify the economy beyond tourism and agriculture,” said Sleet, whose research has focused on food security in Vanuatu. “By boosting agriculture, you aren’t necessarily going to cover the impact of the pandemic.”
Vanuatu has received international support, with the Asian Development Bank providing a $16.9 million grant and Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade offering a funding package worth 17 million Australian dollars last year. Both include specific food security targets, with DFAT even earmarking funds for “Pacific Island Food Revolution.”
Shifting back toward Indigenous foods and away from decades of reliance on imports will take time. Focusing on building the capacity of local farmers and fishers — especially in post-disaster situations — is important, but so is ensuring that more and more Ni-Vanuatu willingly choose local foods.
“There are lots of reasons why local food has been displaced — from colonization and various disruptions since then,” said Oliver from “Pacific Island Food Revolution.” While his team members have already reported a positive shift, they recognize that it is only just beginning. “Behavior change takes time. We have got to keep going.”
Visit the Turning the Tide series for more coverage on climate change, resilience building, and innovative solutions in small island developing states. You can join the conversation using the hashtag #TurningtheTide.
Reporting: Nithin Coca
Editor: Helen Morgan
Multimedia producer/editor: Naomi Mihara
Photos: Nicky Kuautonga / Arlene Bax / Faanati Mamea
Video: Nicky Kuautonga
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