Small Islands, Big Impact: Improving Agriculture and Nutrition in Pacific Island States

The Pacific Islands have made progress in improving agriculture and enhancing nutrition under a new localized IAEA approach to using nuclear science to address development challenges.

The IAEA, through its technical cooperation programme, supports seven Pacific Small Island Developing States (Pacific SIDS) in a broad range of areas including food, agriculture and health and nutrition. In that context, it has been implementing the Sub-Regional Approach to the Pacific Islands over the last two years, focusing on areas where nuclear science and technology can have the biggest impact.

SIDS are recognized by the United Nations as a distinct group of developing countries with shared challenges. Pacific SIDS face several common obstacles to development, including vulnerability to climate change. Risks such as extreme weather and seawater intrusion, together with long transportation times for goods, present significant challenges in terms of the production, availability and safety of food. South-South cooperation allows countries to work together to tackle these challenges more effectively.

“By jointly utilizing national facilities such as research institutions or universities, the Pacific Islands are building their resilience as a subregion,” explained Javier Romero, IAEA Project Management Officer.

Through a coordinated research project organized by the Joint FAO/IAEA Centre of Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture (Joint FAO/IAEA Centre), scientists at the National Agricultural Research Institute of Papua New Guinea enhanced their capabilities to analyse chemical hazards in everyday foods such as milk, helping to improve food safety in the country.

Nuclear technology can be used to develop new crop varieties better suited to changing climate conditions, for example by exposing seeds to radiation so as to induce spontaneous genetic variation in plants. This technique, known as mutation breeding, helps boost countries’ biodiversity by producing new plant varieties with improved traits. Vanuatuan researchers attended a regional training course organized by the Joint FAO/IAEA Centre and gained hands-on experience in all aspects of mutation breeding, from screening and validation of the characteristics of a new crop variety to quality control.

“The contribution of new technologies such as mutagenesis using gamma rays holds large potential for SIDS,” said Juliane Kaoh, Head of Horticultural Perennial Crops at Biosecurity Vanuatu. “Thanks to the IAEA’s support we managed to do it for sweet potato, and the irradiated plants are under investigation in the Vanuatu Agricultural Research and Technical Centre.”

A further plant breeding training course for SIDS was held in 2022 at the Pacific Community’s Centre for Pacific Crops and Trees in Fiji. Participants from Fiji, the Marshall Islands, Papua New Guinea, Samoa and Vanuatu were trained in techniques for mutation breeding. They also learned how to screen for biotic stresses involving living organisms such as fungi, bacteria, viruses and insects, and for abiotic stresses such as drought, salt and extreme temperatures in crops.

Obesity is a risk factor for the development of non-communicable diseases, which are now the leading cause of death in most Pacific countries. Nuclear techniques help assess the effect of lifestyle changes on body composition (lean mass and fat mass). The IAEA is now supporting Fiji National University to become a subregional hub for nutrition programmes through capacity building and the provision of equipment. In April 2024, participants from Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Samoa and Tonga received training in nuclear techniques for nutrition at an IAEA sponsored course hosted by the university. The participants completed hands-on training in the isotopic technique of deuterium dilution to accurately assess and monitor human body composition and total energy expenditure in order to inform the design and improvement of activities aimed at the prevention and control of obesity and related health risks.

The flagship initiative Atoms4Food, launched in 2023 by the IAEA and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, provides practical assistance to countries, including SIDS, to enhance resilience and address priority challenges in the area of food security and safety.

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