The Tongan government said this year’s Royal Agricultural, Fisheries and Industrial Show will see an increased emphasis on health and food safety.
MAFF has announced that the event will now take place over a week, with the date set down of Wednesday July 27 to Saturday August 13.
Tonga is one of the Pacific Island countries its people find diseases such as heart disease, cancers, lung disease and diabetes as the leading cause of their death.
A report on global nutrition recently released says Tonga has the highest level of adult diabetes in the world.
A BBC report early this year says Tonga is the most obese country in the world.
It says up to 40% of the population is thought to have type 2 diabetes and life expectancy is falling.
Health analysts attributed the problems to the “cheap, fatty kind of meat – mutton flaps – imported from New Zealand”.
The national health challenges had been raised in Parliament while His Majesty King Tupou VI opened the Parliament last month.
In His speech the king said people’s health was the most vital because if the problem could not be resolved and monitored there was no promising future for our children and their children. Non-communicable diseases were the biggest challenge to the people, His Majesty said.
A government statement said His Majesty will open the national show “on Wednesday 27th July 2016 at the Matangimalie Ground in Niuatoputapu with the theme, “Food Security for Happy and Healthy Tongans”.
The schedule for this annual event will be as follows;
- Niuatoputapu – Wednesday July 27, 2016
- Niuafo’ou – Thursday July 28, 2016
- Vava’u – Saturday 30 July, 2016
- Ha’apai – Wednesday August 03, 2016
- ‘Eua – Saturday August 06, 2016
- Tongatapu – Friday 12 – Saturday 13 August, 2016
