Copyright FAO/Volantiana R. _ Victoria pinneaple producer in Mauritius, supported by FAO to move to organic farming

New four years stage to improve food and nutrition security in Mauritius through FAO supports

Mauritius, 09 April 2018: An official joint signing ceremony of the Mauritius country programming framework (CPF) with Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations is organized today. Several Ministries of the Mauritius Government have been involved in the formulation of this strategic document which presents the priority areas of intervention of FAO in Mauritius given FAO’s comparative advantages for the period 2018-2021. The CPF was prepared following consultation and agreement with the Government of Mauritius, specifically the Ministry of Agro Industry and Food Security; Ministry of Health and Quality of Life; Ministry of Gender Equality, Child Development, and Family Welfare; Ministry of Ocean Economy, Marine Resources, Fisheries, Shipping and Outer islands; and the Rodrigues regional Assembly. 

The Republic of Mauritius has moved from a predominantly agriculture-based economy before independence and now increasingly relies on imports. The economy has moved to a middle-income level and it is rising to a high-income level country. Local food crop production has risen by 1.3 per cent but population has increased by 8.4 per cent between 2001 and 2011.However Mauritius has an ageing population, and this will have social and economic repercussions. Conversion of agricultural land to residential and industrial use is leading to a continual reduction in crop production area. This land use changes due to the globalization where the sugar production as such is not economically viable. The Multi Annual Adaptation Strategy of the sugar Industry MASS and the road Map Adaptation provides several alternatives to keep the sugar Industry afloat and this included land conversion. The sugar sector is allowed to convert 200 hectares of sugar cane land for other uses. This was not allowed earlier under the Sugar Efficiency Act (SEA) Mauritius has always been a net food importing country, being heavily reliant on imports of staple food, namely rice, wheat flour, edible oil, milk and meat, temperate fruits. There are 55% of small farmers that grow crops. In Rodrigues, 7% practice mixed farming. The majority of household farms in the island of Mauritius (87%) and Rodrigues (73%) grow crops and/ or raise livestock and poultry mainly for sale. In Rodrigues there is a higher level of subsistence farming compared to the island of Mauritius. The total area under production is 11,254ha with 18260 farmers/fruit growers/herders. The scenario is further complicated by the rapid advent of climate change effects and unpredictable extreme weather events.

Productive last four years

During 2014 to 2017, FAO supported the Republic of Mauritius to:

-  review legal framework for Seeds, accompanied with related three regulations and institutional framework, in line with SADC harmonized seed regulations and other international standards and practices

-  develop organic standards for certification and market development

-  initiate elaboration of a Master plan for strategic allocation of Land for agriculture and forest

-  improve the existing system for monitoring, surveillance, early warning and preventions for animal and plant diseases and pests

-  collect, analyze and disseminate statistic data on land, crop, livestock, integrating relevant gender dimensions

-  initiate formulation of aquaculture development and management policy, and sensitize population to fish as nutrition product

Time is to move up a gear to consolidate the gains and move towards scaling up the results achieved

The next four years, FAO’s collaborative support will focus on these jointly defined key priorities areas:

         Promotion of climate smart and organic agriculture for enhanced food security and safety;

         Support to Agribusiness Development for selected strategic value chain, and

         Promotion of sustainable aquaculture, off-lagoon fisheries and fish consumption.

“FAO has been and will continue working with different partners, supporting establishment of national action plans, providing normative guidelines in support of the sustainability of food production systems. FAO look forward to continuing support Mauritius in this process and explore the full potential of the Organization to help achieve sustainable development goals” said Patrice Talla Takoukam, the FAO Representative for Mauritius, Madagascar, Comoros, Seychelles.