Food security and agriculture is a constant concern for the people of Tonga because the country is currently ranked second in the world’s most at risk countries to natural hazards, the Prime Minister Hon. Hu’akavameiliku told an international regional conference last week.

He made an online address to the 36^th Session of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Regional Conference for Asia and the Pacific held in Dhaka, Bangladesh from March 8-11, 2022.

“Tonga firmly believes that agriculture is key to Tonga’s sustainable development, a key driver of Tonga’s economic development, key to poverty reduction and rural livelihood, key to adaptation to climate change, key to food security during this COVID-19 pandemic and key to building Tonga’s resilience to disasters,” he said.

Besides being ranked second in the world’s most at risk country to natural hazards, he said Tonga is also ranked third as the world’s ‘most at risk’ country to the effects of climate change, with 80 percent of its population living on the coastlines.

While Tonga currently imports a lot of food, especially protein products of meat and fish, the main focus of the Ministry of Agriculture is to increase the local food production of livestock, crops and fruit trees for the local and export markets.

The Prime Minister acknowledged support from the FAO over the last 50 years, including assistance given following the January 15 Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai marine volcano and tsunami and the current COVID-19 crisis in Tonga.

“Despite these many challenges, FAO has always been a key partner of Tonga for more than 50 years.”

“FAO’s timely and key assistances to our recovery programs from numerous disasters that occurred, including the recent volcanic eruptions has been instrumental in getting Tonga back to road recovery.”