Taro for tomorrow

There was a moment of insight at COP27 – The United Nations Climate Change Conference held in Egypt in 2022 – where everything fell into place for Mr Christian-Yves Amato-Ali.

The Rotuman Master of Climate Change student is motivated by the potential of his research to have impact in his community, but he has often despaired that as an individual, he could do little to address the grand challenge of global food security.

However, at COP27, as a representative of the University of the South Pacific and an official observer in negotiations for the region, he experienced a profound moment of connection and understanding.

Through meeting like-minded delegates from all over the world, he saw that each one was working to make a difference in their own way. When put together, those individual efforts were combining to create meaningful, large-scale change.

He left COP27 buoyed up by more than the historic official agreement for a ‘loss and damage’ fund for countries most vulnerable to climate change, including those in the Pacific region.

‘I saw that by making impacts in our small pockets of the world we are all contributing to the bigger picture,’ said Mr Amato-Ali, who also provided a youthful perspective on strengthening food systems as part of an ACIAR panel at the conference.

Mr Amato-Ali’s research is supported by the ACIAR PASS-CR program that partners with Pacific universities to foster agricultural research, education and innovation systems across the region. It is linked to the Australian Government’s Pacific Step-up strategy.

Producers in the Pacific region are at the coalface of the impacts of climate change – facing threats from one-off natural disasters, such as intensifying cyclones, as well as constant incremental rises in temperature and sea levels.

Taro is one of the most valuable exports of the Pacific region, so it is critical that losses are minimised in the face of these climate challenges, Mr Amato-Ali said. ‘Farmers have to figure out how they can improve their farming systems given different climate scenarios.’

On-farm he is looking to minimise losses by applying a conservation agriculture-based sustainable intensification (CASI) approach that includes reduced tillage, residue retention and crop rotations aimed at enhancing biodiversity, soil health and wateruse efficiency.

‘I’m investigating how we can improve on-farm practices because sometimes simple things like adding one chemical that increases or decreases the pH of your soil or changes soil structure can improve yields,’ said Mr Amato-Ali.

Further along the value chain, it is equally important to identify opportunities to mitigate food losses – and make gains, he added.

‘I hope to improve awareness and practices. Some may seem like small issues (such as storing produce out of the sun), but these small things all add up.’