Nutrition-smart food systems prioritise the production, accessibility, and consumption of nutritious, culturally suitable foods to enhance both food and nutrition security, while considering sustainability and resilience against environmental and economic challenges.

We undertake partnership-based multidisciplinary research that integrates agriculture, fisheries, nutrition, education, and health sectors to develop food systems-based solutions for improved diets and health outcomes across the Pacific Islands.

Our work extends across the food system and includes:

• production, value chains, markets and agribusiness development
• improving accessibility to healthy fresh food
• novel and traditional foods   
• food environments, with a focus on school food and nutrition settings
• nutrition education, behaviour change and dietary intake
• food loss and waste
• food systems resilience

Research projects  

• Comprehensive mapping of dietary intakes and development of context-specific food-based dietary guidelines in the Republic of Marshall Islands 
• Nutrition-Sensitive Agriculture Approaches in the Atoll Food Futures Program
• Nutrition and food security in the Pacific Islands
• School Feeding in Kiribati 
• Adopting a gender-inclusive participatory approach to reducing horticultural food loss in the Pacific
• Pacific Agribusiness Research for Development Initiative Phase 2 (PARDI 2)
• Enhanced fruit systems for Tonga and Samoa (Phase 2): Community based citrus production

Food systems in the Pacific Islands have changed dramatically over the past 50 or so years. Diets that were primarily based on local, traditional staple foods, are now becoming more reliant on imported, highly processed foods.

Ultra-processed foods (UPFs) are "multi-ingredient, industrially formulated mixtures. UPFs are formulated mixtures highly processed to the extent that they are no longer recognizable as their original plant or animal sources. Most are manufactured to be ready to eat or ready to heat, requiring no preparation before quick, easy consumption" (FAO/Popkin, 2020). These UPFs have been directly linked to overweight, obesity and many diet-related non-communicable diseases (FAO/Popkin, 2020).

While we know that across the Pacific Islands the availability of these UPF’s is increasing, there is limited data on actual consumption. This project seeks to develop a screener tool that can be used to measure UPF consumption in the Pacific Islands.

The tool being developed is based on the work of Costa CS, Faria FR, Gabe KT, Sattamini IF, Khandpur N, Leite FHM, et al. Nova score for the consumption of ultra-processed foods: description and performance evaluation in Brazil. Rev Saude Publica. 2021;55:13. https://doi.org/10.11606/s1518-8787.202105500358

Supplying nutritious food in schools has the potential to improve child health, education and school attendance outcomes, while also benefitting the broader community through the establishment of connections with local food systems.

This scoping study aims to better support the integration of local agriculture into school food provision in Pacific Island countries.

It will provide an understanding of existing and potential links between local agriculture and schools for the sustainable supply of nutritious food to students, exploring policy, institutional and farmer capacity settings and their associated enablers and barriers. It will also establish relationships and stimulate discussion and engagement, seeking consensus on how a successful farm to school food program may work in the Pacific.

The findings will be used to inform potential future research aimed at creating additional opportunities along supply chains and improving local food procurement across the region.

Smallholder farmers in the Pacific region can experience food losses from 5-20% of their total production, which means income loss for farmers, and nutrition loss for consumers. There are multiple points in the value chain, from distribution to storage to market, where valuable food is lost. An underlying issue observed is the gender inequality and a lack of gender awareness within value chains in the Pacific.

This project aims to investigate and remediate food loss in Pacific Island value chains. Using a gender-sensitive, participatory approach the project team will seek to understand where food loss occurs, identify the drivers of food loss, then design affordable interventions to reduce the social and economic cost of food loss.

Addressing food loss in the region could improve monetary returns for farmers, food availability and affordability for consumers, and widen fruit and vegetable choices for overall improvement of Pacific diets and nutrition.

This project intends to contribute to the fight against non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in the Pacific region from within the homes of farmers and the purchasing experience of consumers.

A flourishing agribusiness sector is vital for sustainable economic growth in the Pacific Island countries (PICs). It is central to reducing poverty, especially in rural communities, and delivering an improved trade balance, both of which are key goals of Pacific Island governments and their development partners.

Within the broader goal of economic and enterprise development, this project aims to improve Pacific livelihoods, through helping smallholder farmers transition to more sustainable, market-oriented and diversified systems that focus on value-adding and agribusiness opportunities, inclusive of recognition of the role of women in agriculture.

The project undertook case studies and value chain reviews of 12 agricultural products in Fiji and Vanuatu. A range of technical resource material was produced and business mentoring, capacity building and technical training to local stakeholders provided. From these studies and activities, PARDI 2 identified the agritourism, beekeeping and tilapia fish industries as having the potential for positive impact on community livelihoods, and concentrated long-term investment in mentoring, capacity building in farmer organisations and training support to develop agribusinesses and influence local policy and strategies.

Read more

Tonga and Samoa have some of the highest rates of obesity in the world, with non-communicable diseases (NCDs) the leading cause of mortality. For health outcomes to be improved in both island nations, it is essential locally-grown and affordable fresh fruits and vegetables are made more readily and reliably available.

This ACIAR HORT/2019/165 project aims to increase domestic citrus production in Tonga and Samoa to create viable and sustainable fruit production systems in support of human nutrition, community capacity building and gender empowerment outcomes. It builds upon a former ACIAR-funded research project (ACIAR HORT/2014/077 Enhanced fruit production and postharvest handling systems for Fiji, Samoa and Tonga – 2015-2020), which established four mixed citrus orchards in Tonga and increased local horticultural knowledge.

In Tonga, these established orchards will now be translated into resilient citrus value chains. Cyclonic wind protection and ground cover options will be investigated to inform potential improvements for local orchard management. The project will provide propagation training to ensure local nurseries have the capacity and backing to sustainably supply true-to-type grafted citrus trees for farmers. It will also support new village-based businesses, providing economic opportunities for women and rural communities.

In Samoa, new and robust citrus cultivars will be introduced to extend the currently short fruit production season and household-scale value-adding opportunities will be explored so that excess fruit can be utilised to create new processed products such as juices, essential oils, dried fruit and more to further support local enterprise.

Postharvest analysis will be undertaken in both countries with trials informing recommendations aimed at reducing loss and improving fruit quality for enhanced farmer livelihoods. Capacity-building workshops will be conducted to promote best practice small-holder orchard management, while a series of handbooks will be published in local language providing a long-term resource for the region’s developing citrus industry. Consumer purchasing behaviours and food choices will also be investigated and village-based healthy eating gardens established.

Communities across the Pacific are being challenged by the impacts of climate change, including on food security. A priority goal for the region is to improve dietary quality and reduce non-communicable diseases.

This project focused on exploring the links between climate hazards, food systems and diets in remote coastal villages of Fiji. Livelihood transitions and climate hazards explain why households have become less reliant on local fisheries and agriculture for their dietary needs. Most households routinely consume locally-sourced food items from only four food groups. In addition, diets are shifting and now include significant quantities of energy-dense processed (imported) foods with low nutritional value.

The study highlights the importance of increasing availability of fruits and vegetables, mainly through local production, and diversifying sustainable sources of animal protein as strategies to increase diet quality. The methodology developed for this project has the potential to be replicated to support initiatives aimed at promoting the sustainable transformation of food systems, food and nutrition security, and human health.

UniSC takes action to support achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG's)

• Goal 1: No poverty
• Goal 2: Zero hunger
• Goal 3: Good health and wellbeing
• Goal 13: Climate action
• Goal 14: Life below water
• Goal 15: Life on land
• Goal 17: Partnerships for the goals