With American Samoa importing 90-95 percent of its food, a two-day conference is taking place during which participants are examining ways to decrease the territory’s dependence on imports and create a balance between imports and food grown locally to sustain a rapidly growing population.

“Importing that large of a percentage is very risky,” Dr. George Kent, a political science professor at the University of Hawaii Manoa told Samoa News. “Prices are volatile...all kinds of disasters are possible.”

Dr. Kent, who presented on day One of American Samoa’s first food security conference: “ASISASIGA: A Conference on Food Security in American Samoa”, says many factors affect the price of food in American Samoa, including climate change and fuel costs.

“Everything we need comes in on those ships,” one man told Samoa News during a population summit held last year.

Case in point: the territory’s rice shortages that occurred in 2008 when Australia began cutting down on their exports to American Samoa.

“I’m not saying American Samoa should grow all of its own — that is also risky as we learned with the taro blight years ago,” Dr. Kent added. “But we have to find that balance — and it’s pretty clear they’re not at the balance. My main thing is...a food policy council for American Samoa should be created to deal with all factors affecting nutrition in all categories. ‘Steer your own canoe’...don’t just let it drift. Take hold of it...creating a food policy council is a concrete way to do that.”

Dr. Kent notes many things must be considered in addressing food security for American Samoa: keeping children well nourished, non-communicable diseases, income stream and support from the US federal government.

He points out concerns, including breastfeeding not being at its optimum level; a high level of non-communicable diseases (like cancer and diabetes) which are largely attributed to diet; an uncertain income stream and support from the US government which “is not certain to continue at high levels” especially during the current economic squeeze.

“Income stream is uncertain at the canneries...it’s always uncertain and there’s all kinds of reasons: they could find a better place; the tuna could run out and there’d be a collapse of the fisheries,” said Dr. Kent.

He added “support from the US government is not certain to continue at high levels” for American Samoa and notes the average monthly benefit of a local participant of the federally funded Women, Infants, & Children (WIC) program “is higher than any state in the US.”

“Somebody in Colorado who gets two-thirds as much as American Samoa might wake up one day and ask ‘how come?’...especially during this economic squeeze,” said Dr. Kent.

According to the local Department of Agriculture Web site, which is spearheading the food conference in cooperation with Community & Natural Resources (CNR)/Land Grant division of the American Samoa Community College (ASCC) — “we are presently importing over 95 percent of our food supplies from overseas, and our survival is dependent on the action of forces that are beyond our control.”

Dr. Kent says his approach addresses how American Samoa can regain control if the territory is to care for itself in the wake of disaster, and care for its especially vulnerable, such as the poor, the elderly and prisoners.

“American Samoa is not...the highest priority for outsiders such as US corporations, US government and UN agencies,” he said. “...formulation of action plans should originate locally. My basic argument is we should not just drift and hope for the best...take charge of your situation...watch out and try to take charge.”

He said the food policy council that local participants are envisioning will not have executive powers but focus on ways to adapt the local food situation by taking into consideration politics, economics and culture.

“There needs to be more local production and local control and I am emphasizing the need to summarize when I say ‘steer your own canoe,” said Dr. Kent.

“A wide range of issues fall under the category of food security,” explained CNR Director Tapaau Dr. Dan Mageo Aga in a previous statement, “and the time has come for American Samoa to take a close look at where it stands in terms of how it sustains its population, as well as how it could cope with changing circumstances affecting our food supply, should such circumstances ever arise.”

Conference participants are looking to adopt a resolution in  support of creating a food policy council, said Dr. Kent.

Dr. Kent is a professor of political science at the University of Hawaii, Manoa campus, who has written several books on food security and a host of papers on food policy councils and breastfeeding, among other related issues. His work on breastfeeding has appeared in the International Breastfeeding Journal, he said.

He told Samoa News he began following food issues and nutrition when he wrote a paper for the United Nations in the 1980s that addressed ways fisheries can be used to alleviate malnutrition. He has also authored a book — “The Politics of Pacific Islands Fisheries.”

Arriving last Thursday evening, this is Dr. Kent’s second visit to American Samoa. He first visited the island in 1977 during an eight-hour stop-over for the Food and Agriculture Organization.

He departs the territory tonight.

The food security conference closes today at the Governor H. Rex Lee Auditorium in Utulei.

To learn more about Dr. George Kent, go to his Web site: www2.hawaii.edu/~kent.