Mois: juillet 2015

Pacific Island region farmers to grow tourism

Louis AgbokouLaisser un commentaire

Opened today in Nadi, the Agritourism Week is a collaborative effort between the European Union, the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC), the South Pacific Tourism Organisation (SPTO) and the School of Tourism and Hospitality Management at the University of the South Pacific (USP).

The Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA) and the Pacific Islands Private Sector Organisation (PIPSO) are also event partners, providing technical and business perspectives.

It involves nearly 100 attendees from the Pacific, Caribbean and Indian Ocean and aims to close the gap between what farmers are supplying and what the tourism operators want to buy.

« Promoting the links between agriculture and tourism can contribute to improve economic opportunities, build resilience in rural communities and enhance sustainable development », the Head of Operations for the Delegation of the European Union for the Pacific, Renato Mele, said at the event opening.

“To create jobs, you need businesses who lead innovation and change. Agriculture and tourism seem to offer the best opportunity for inclusive economic growth in the region,” Mr Mele added.

 He also highlighted the commitment of the European Union to the development of the private sector, widely recognized as the engine of growth by generating jobs, contributing to public revenue and providing goods and services.

 « Two European Union regional projects are already ongoing in the sectors of agriculture and tourism. These are implemented in partnership with SPC and SPTO respectively », he emphasised. 

 Tourism in the Pacific Island countries grew about 3.5 per cent per year between 2008 and 2012. The total value of Pacific tourism is forecast to nearly double to US$4 billion by 2019.

However, the economic benefits also come with costs. Up to 80 per cent of the food in the tourism industry is imported, partly because the hotels and airlines need reliable supplies of good quality products.

“More local content on plates and more local agrifood products on offer for visitors, tourists and the hotel industry means more income and employment opportunities for our farmers, suppliers, private sector and overall interest in the agricultural sector,” the Deputy Director of SPC’s Land Resources Division, Ken Cokanasiga, said.

“In many cases, the problems can be resolved through better communication between buyers and sellers in the agriculture and tourism sectors. The promotion of local food is also linked to showcasing healthy food choices and increasing regional trade,” Mr Cokanasiga said.

Taking place from 29 June to 3 July, Pacific Community Agritourism Week will consist of capacity building, site visits, cooking demonstrations and learning events promoting food tourism and agrifood opportunities.

To raise awareness of the event, a team of social reporters, selected from 198 applicants, will cover the sessions using Facebook, Flickr, Twitter, Youtube and other social media.

Supported by CTA (through its Agriculture, Rural Development and Youth in the Information society Project – ARDYIS) and SPC, the on-site reporters are Tom-Vaitolo Vaha of Niue, Kuata Taumaheke of Tuvalu, Carole Cholai of Papua New Guinea, Deffnie Thompson and Lopez Adams of Vanuatu, Avneel Chand of Fiji, led and trained by CTA’s Nawsheen Hosenally.

While the objective of the social media reporting is to raise awareness of the event, engage on-site participants and reach out to a wider audience remotely, another goal for CTA and SPC is to build the capacity of social reporting in the Pacific region.

A communique is expected to contain a call to action around the types of activities that could be undertaken collaboratively, and supported, to address existing challenges and take advantage of the opportunities that exist between the agriculture and tourism sectors.

Case studies and videos will be among the learning tools produced for wide dissemination to policy makers, chefs, farmers and other stakeholders, including via portals such as SPC’s Pacific Agriculture and Forestry Policy Network – (PAFPNet).

More event information is available at: www.spc.int/pafpnet/newsroom/pacific-agritourism-week.

Taking local food to the next level

Louis AgbokouLaisser un commentaire

(By Avneel Abhishay, Social Reporter for the Pacific Community AgriTourism Week 2015)BLOG

“They don’t only want to see the country, they also want to eat the country”

These words of Colin Chung, the celebrity chef from New Zealand, got to me. Finally! Someone said it.

I swear if we had people like Colin Chung in Fiji, the culinary industry would have witnessed history, and been revolutionised long time ago.

The grace, and style he delivered his speech at the Fiji National University’s conference room had everyone listening in anticipation.

What did he talk about?

The truth! Nothing but blatant truth. If you can’t handle criticism, trust me you would not wish to sit in his session.

Everything he says is so painfully true backed with his idea and evidence that one can simply not deny.

He successfully created a picture in everyone’s mind what his idea of locally dressed food is like:

Imagine a juicy piece of meat stuffed and dressed with ivi nuts, dressed with local herbs, and served with breadfruit chips on the side.

What did he emphasise?

“If you can’t spell Caesar in Caesar salad right, why even put it in the menu?”

I partially agree to the point made, he also went to on to say that, if as a chef you can’t spell something, how can you make it.

At that statement, I can’t say that I agree fully. Because come on! Cooking is a talent; even in top class restaurants where only literate chefs are chosen, they fail miserably.

But then again, it’s true in a way that if you can’t spell the name of your dish right, how can I be sure that you will make it right? After all, the menu card is the first impression I have of the food before I actually taste it.

“People don’t just want the local foods we eat everyday”

I totally agree to the statement made, I will take for example Indian restaurants. They don’t want to experiment making new things.

When I go to a restaurant I don’t feel that excitement or that sense that I will be trying something new today.

I have ‘paneer’,’ biryani’, and ‘tandoori’ at home. So what is new when I go to a restaurant? It’s the same thing; even food kiosks at food courts make ‘paneer’!

Lessons to learn

We have a long way to go, in terms of the farmer-chef relationship. This session with Colin Chung was an eye-opener, not only for chefs but also for me. I simply couldn’t deny the facts he stated, whether they be subjective or objective.

He pointed out at a specific point how lazy our chefs are. And it’s ironic that we import what we have in Fiji because it’s off season.

Can’t connect the dots? Well he mentioned using mangoes as an example that if chefs were not lazy to peel the mangoes slice it and freeze it in bags, we wouldn’t need to buy imported frozen mangoes.

Notice the irony? I personally can’t agree more to most of his statements. Though some things he mentioned were simply ignorant from certain perspectives, most of it as stated before, blatant truth.

A lot of quotes in this post, but this is what happens when you are back from chef Chung’s inspiring session. Follow the hashtag #PacAgriTo not to miss out on important things said and done live.