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Promote Agricultural Value Chains to Strengthen Local Food Systems (Impacted by COVID-19) - TCP/CKI/3802

Year of publication 2024

Place of publication Rome, Italy ;

Pages 9

Publisher FAO ;

Product type Project

Synopsis (short abstract) Domestic food production in the Cook Islands has sharply declined over the past decades, leading to increased dependence on imported foodstuffs, with imports rising from NZD 10.3 million in 1986 to NZD 30 million in 2012. This has created a high vulnerability in food security. The per capita consumption of imported food in 2012 was valued at over NZD 2 000 per resident. The decline in local food production, rising trade imbalance and increase in non-communicable diseases (NCDs) necessitated urgent policies and interventions to develop nutrition-sensitive crop value chains, improve local food production and consumption, and link agriculture to tourism, promote local agricultural products for consumption and export. The economic impacts of COVID-19, although the virus had not reached the Cook Islands, were significant due to declines in tourism, which was a major market for local produce. This was likely to result in a recession and disruption in food supply chains, impacting household incomes and food purchasing power, especially in urban areas reliant on imported foods.

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©FAO, 2024

Language English

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