Food, glorious food. A song written by Lionel Bart is the opening song from the 1960s West End and Broadway musical and 1968 film Oliver!

It is also a daily parody of the lives of Samoans who cannot afford a balanced meal because it is not available and unaffordable. The failure to promote agriculture for the local market is glaring us right in the face. There can be so much done but the focus is not there.

The green leafy vegetables that are the difference between a healthy lifestyle and an unhealthy one are not present. Local farmers are not focused on growing beans, cabbages, carrots, green leafy vegetables and legumes. The agriculture ministry has not come up with initiatives or financial avenues that could lead to this.

The biggest worry is that if this trend continues the coming generation will lose touch with the nutrition that once reared warriors. Fishing is no longer an activity practised by villages causing a decline in the consumption of fish. A government report showed that fish contributes only four per cent of the dietary intake of Samoans, which is way below the recommended intake; up to 50 per cent of the daily intake will need to come from fish.

What is happening here? We used to be people who would make use of the resources Mother Nature gave us. We were healthy and non-communicable diseases were not part of our vocabulary. But things changed as we moved on from the old lifestyle that kept us fit and healthy. We have become slaves of imported and processed food.

We no longer indulge in food that is healthy and lean, We have developed a taste for fatty and discarded meat products.

The stark reality is that Samoa faces the double burden of malnutrition and undernutrition. These include stunting, anaemia and other nutrient deficiencies and an increasing burden of non-communicable diseases.

A report by the government in 2021 titled Samoa Food Systems Pathway 2030 showed that the leadership of the nation was well aware of the problems surrounding nutrition, food security and agriculture.

The reports that obesity across all age groups exceeded global averages. Over 70 per cent of the population were overweight and around half were obese. NCD contributed to around 80 per cent of deaths; more than half were premature deaths. NCD is estimated to cost 8.5 per cent of the GDP by 2040. Poor nutrition is the leading risk factor for malnutrition.

A total of 24.2 per cent of Samoans were food insecure at moderate levels, while 2.6 per cent (1 in 40 persons) faced severe levels of food insecurity, with around five per cent of the population undernourished. Poverty measures show that 22 per cent of the population was living below the national basic poverty line, with 6 per cent living in extreme poverty (or food poverty).

The Samoan diet is not nutritionally balanced – it falls short of the required micronutrients – and it is too rich in fats and too low in carbohydrates. The consumption of fruits and vegetables is low and is declining; only one per cent of Samoans consume at least 20 servings of fruits and vegetables a week.

The Samoan diet is not diversified. Only five food groups contribute to 67 per cent of the total dietary energy consumed – with cereals and their products, oil products, and meat contributing 56 per cent, while roots and tubers contribute only 11 per cent.

The Samoan diet has moved away from a more traditional diet of root crops, starchy fruit, and seafood towards a modern diet consisting of white rice, bread, chicken leg quarters, sugars and processed food.

The majority (61 per cent) of home food consumption were purchased, with only 37 per cent of the top 30 food items locally produced, suggesting a large consumption of food imports, most of which were processed energy-dense food.

The focus on providing for the local market is just not there. The potential is there but there is not enough initiative. There needs to be a change at the helm of the agriculture ministry to drive our agriculture ministry.

If this continues, we are doomed.