Fiji Plan of Action for Nutrition (FPAN) 2010-2014.

The Fiji Plan of Action for Nutrition (FPAN) is a planning instrument with a multi-sectoral approach whose overall objective is to improve the nutrition and health of the people in Fiji. The document has a national coverage and concerns the period from 2010 to 2014. The Plan operationalizes the National Food and Nutrition Policy endorsed in 2008. It also incorporates principles and relevant strategies of the Millennium Development Goals as well as Fiji’s Strategic Framework for Change, Peace and Progress. The basic approaches of FPAN to achieve its goals can be grouped into: (a) incorporate nutrition into development policies; (b) promote food security through improved food availability and accessibility; (c) empower people with the knowledge and skills to deal with food and nutrition situation; (d) promote appropriate diets and lifestyle conducive to good health; (e) conduct research and evaluate nutrition-related intervention programmes; (f) periodical monitoring of the food situation and nutritional health in Fiji; (g) promote multi-sectoral and inter-sectoral cooperation in food and nutrition activities. The document defines nine Policies and their related strategic objectives: (1) Advocate nutritional issues and mainstreaming into the Government decision-making system; (2) Promote and sustain household food security; (3) Improve national nutritional status; (4) Protect consumers through improved quality and safety of food and water; (5) Improve nutritional status of the socio-economically disadvantaged and the groups that are nutritionally vulnerable (including children, mothers, the aged, differently-abled and those living with HIV/AIDS); (6) Nutrition Policy for Schools; (7) Promote healthy diets and lifestyles; (8) Establish and promote nutrition surveillance and monitoring system; (9) Strengthen collaboration with development partners.
As mentioned, the main goal of the Plan is to help eliminate hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition. Chapter 3.5 outlines the specific objectives and targets to be attained up to 2014. These objectives cover: improvement in the overall nutritional status of the population; improvement in eating habits of the population, more specifically among the high-risk groups; improvement in availability and access to nutritious food; increased production and consumption of especially local fresh foods; promotion of implementation of food and nutrition policy for schools. Chapter 3.8 outlines the strategic objectives, activities to be undertaken, performance indicators and timelines for each Policy.
With a view to contributing to food security, the Plan aims at making agriculture more productive. The specific objectives of the Plan include (i) increased in acreage of agricultural land devoted to food crops; (ii) establishment of agricultural research to improve post harvest quality of locally produces food, and disaster preparedness; (iii) establishment of a system for estimating subsistence production. It is worth noticing, Strategic Objective 2.3 in Policy 2, regarding community-based food production to increase consumption of vegetables, fruits and root crops.
The Plan also aims at increasing resilience of livelihoods to disasters, with specific regard to food security issues. It includes, among the actions to be undertaken, the development and incorporation of nutrition guidelines into Disaster Plan.