Food Security in Small Islands: Case Studies in the Federated States of Micronesia

In the 1950s, people in the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) still ate a “traditional” diet based on starchy staple crops and marine resources, but this began to be replaced by imported food such as rice, flour, sugar, fatty foods, and other processed foods after the United States Department of Agriculture started its supplementary feeding program in the 1960s. This phenomenon accelerated after a Compact of Free Association was signed between the FSM and the United States in 1986. Since then, the FSM has faced serious public health problems due to this new diet and other lifestyle changes. On small islands and atolls,imported foods and medicines may not arrive for more than a month if a typhoon or an oil crisis occurs. In this study, detailed study of household food consumption is shown to represent the present situation of food security on Piis-Paneu Island (Chuuk Atoll, Chuuk State) and Pingelap Island (Pohnpei State).