FAO - Nutrition country profiles: Vanuatu 2003

FAO - Nutrition country profiles: Vanuatu 2003

Year of publication 2003

Pages 24 p.

Publisher FAO ;

Product type Document

Edition 1

Full item page

Synopsis (short abstract) Vanuatu is situated in the south west Pacific Ocean. While the rural population follows a predominantly subsistence lifestyle, the urban population has adopted a more westernised lifestyle. Vanuatu’s traditional staple foods are root crops, such as yam and taro, although starchy fruits such as plantain and breadfruit are also seasonally important. The consumption of traditional foods was highest in the rural and lowest in the urban areas. Consumption of imports such as rice, fat/oils, canned and fresh meat/fish, milk and bread was highest in the urban and lowest in the rural areas. The rise in non-communicable diseases has been attributed, in part, to this transition away from traditional foods in favour of imported ones. This also has an impact on agricultural production, food security and self-sufficiency in food production (Carlot-Tary et al., 2000).

Language English

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