Press Release
Friday 13, February, 2026
The Solomon Islands National University (SINU) on Wednesday, 12 February successfully hosted a workshop on the introduction to food loss and waste.
The workshop aimed to investigate and address food loss across Pacific Island value chains using a gender-sensitive, participatory approach. It also focused on expanding fruit and vegetable choices and improving diet and nutrition across the Pacific region.
Topics covered during the workshop included the importance of food loss and waste in the Pacific, food loss and waste in the Solomon Islands, group discussions on experiences related to food loss and waste, practical strategies to reduce and repurpose food waste, and practical strategies to reduce food loss.
Key speaker Professor Steven Underhill, a specialist in Pacific horticultural food loss from the Australian Centre for Pacific Island Research at the University of the Sunshine Coast (UniSC), Australia, has been in the country this week delivering a series of joint workshops on food loss and waste in collaboration with SINU, the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (MAL), Solomon Islands Research and Extension Support Organisation (SROS), and other partners.
โSolomon Islands currently experiences very high levels of farm and market waste, so these workshops, funded by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR), are extremely important and very timely,โ said Professor Underhill.
Professor Underhill added that SINU, MAL, NGOs, farmers, and vendors have been attending multiple food loss and waste workshops throughout the week at SINUโs Kukum Campus and Kastom Garden to learn practical and low-cost strategies to reduce food loss.
โWhat has made these workshops so useful is that the material being presented comes from best practices observed among other Pacific farmers and markets, making it highly relevant to production and market practices here in the Solomon Islands,โ he said.
MAL Deputy Secretary Technical, Michael Hoโota, who officially opened the workshop, reaffirmed MALโs strong support for the initiative.
Mr Hoโota said reducing food loss is not just about efficiency; it is about resilience, equity, nutrition, and dignity for farmers, vendors, and consumers, especially women and youth who play critical.
ENDS//