15/04/2016

Tuvalu, an independent small island state of the Pacific has acceded to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA), a treaty that contributes to sustainable food security for all.

Tuvalu’s Minister for Natural Resources, Hon. Elisala Pita signed the instrument of accession the Treaty, confirming Tuvalu as one mof the most recent members of this international community working on the conservation and exchange of food seeds and forages for research, training and breeding.

The Secretariat of the International Treaty, together with the officers of the UN Food and Agriculture Organzation in the Samoa Subregional Office, and in collaboration with Secretariat of the Pacific community (SPC) has facilitated improved awareness of the Treaty as a tool for sustainable food security.

In acknowledging the technical assistance and support to the Pacific Island nation, Minister Pita stated, “The support of the Pacific Community and the international development partners is greatly appreciated by Tuvalu, which has enabled our small island country to access a range of resilient staple food crops that are benefiting our people, now and in the future.”

“We welcome the new membership of Tuvalu to our community. By joining the Treaty, Tuvalu will be able to access a wider pool of resilient crop varieties available in the Multilateral system to improve its food security, including varieties of taro and bananas”, said Shakeel Bhatti, Secretary of the International Treaty.

“Our Centre for Pacific Crops and Trees has provided Tuvalu with technical advice and various crop varieties accessed from the global genepool available under the Treaty’s Multilateral system, in partnership with different international donors,” Pacific Community Deputy Director-General, Dr Audrey Aumua said.

The Treaty ensures that plant biodiversity and our major food crops are conserved, used and  exchanged and it also provides financial support through its Benefit-sharing Fund for farmers and researchers to continue the conservation, study and improvement of ancestral and new varieties.

In this way, Tuvalu becomes the ninth Pacific island country from the South West Pacific to join the Treaty, after Cook Islands, Kiribati, Palau, Fiji, Samoa, Marshall Islands, Papua New Guinea and Australia.

Tuvalu’s main natural staples and primary export commodities are fish and copra. Crops covered under the Treaty include staple crops such as coconut, breadfruit, taro and bananas.

Tuvalu is the fourth smallest island country in the world and has very limited natural resources to support its estimated 11,000 population, making it highly dependent on imported food and basic products from Fiji, Australia and New Zealand.

Arabic version: Ar

Photo captions:

1. Banana crop growing well by Kamuta Latasi in Fakaifo, Tuvalu provided by the SPC CePaCT under various donor funded projects.