The Pacific Innovation Forum for Climate and Environment (PIFCE) 1st - 3rd July, 2026

Fine Foods Ltd

Brief overview

Fine Foods Ltd is a Vanuatu-based food innovation and processing company focused on developing climate-resilient, value-added products from local crops such as cassava, taro, and kumara. We work closely with farmers to reduce post-harvest losses, improve supply chains, and create export-ready products using sustainable methods, including retort and shelf-stable technologies. Our approach supports food security, import substitution, and income generation for rural communities. By combining traditional knowledge with modern processing, we aim to strengthen local economies while promoting environmentally responsible production and reducing reliance on imported foods.

Your organisation’s goals

Fine Foods Ltd provides integrated, climate-focused food processing and supply chain services designed to reduce environmental impact while strengthening resilience in Pacific food systems. Our core services include value-added processing of local crops (cassava, taro, kumara, breadfruit) into shelf-stable products using retort and other technologies that significantly reduce reliance on energy-intensive cold chains.

We have transitioned to solar-powered operations to lower emissions and improve energy security, particularly in remote island contexts. By shifting production toward ambient-stable foods, we reduce refrigeration, transport costs, and post-harvest losses.

We work closely with farmers through aggregation and contract purchasing models, supporting climate-smart agriculture, crop diversification, and stable income generation. In addition, we offer contract processing services—enabling local producers, SMEs, and partners to scale production without heavy capital investment.

A key focus is intellectual property (IP) development, including proprietary formulations and processing methods tailored to Pacific crops, ensuring both commercial viability and regional ownership of innovation.

Through import substitution, waste minimisation, and circular by-product use, Fine Foods Ltd delivers practical, scalable solutions that align environmental sustainability with economic growth and food security.

Describe your innovation

Fine Foods Ltd has developed a climate-resilient School Meals Innovation Program that transforms locally grown crops into nutritious, shelf-stable meals for distribution across island schools. Using cassava, taro, kumara, and breadfruit, we produce ready-to-eat or easy-to-prepare meals through retort processing, significantly reducing the need for refrigeration and long cold chains—one of the largest energy burdens in Pacific Island Countries and Territories (PICTs).

This innovation directly addresses climate change by lowering emissions linked to imported foods and cold storage, while also reducing food waste through longer shelf life and improved post-harvest utilisation. Our solar-powered processing facility further decreases reliance on fossil fuels, making production more sustainable and resilient to energy disruptions common in remote island settings.

The program is built on a contract sourcing model with local farmers, encouraging climate-smart agriculture, crop diversification, and stable incomes. By creating consistent demand for resilient crops like cassava, taro and breadfruit—which are better adapted to changing climate conditions—we support farming systems that can withstand drought, cyclones, and soil variability.

In addition, we have developed proprietary formulations (IP) that ensure meals meet nutritional standards for children while maintaining taste, affordability, and scalability. These meals are designed for easy distribution to outer islands where logistics are challenging, ensuring food security even in times of disruption.

This innovation is particularly relevant for PICTs, where high import dependence, fragile supply chains, and climate vulnerability intersect. By localising production, reducing energy use, and strengthening community-based supply systems, our school meals program delivers a practical, scalable solution to both environmental and social challenges.

How is this solution is innovative?

Our Meals in Schools solution is innovative because it replaces imported, perishable foods with nutritious, locally sourced meals made from climate-resilient crops like cassava, taro, and kumara. Using shelf-stable processing, we eliminate the need for cold storage—reducing energy use, costs, and emissions in island environments. The model integrates solar-powered production and contract sourcing from local farmers, creating a reliable, low-impact supply chain. Meals are designed to be easy to prepare in schools with minimal infrastructure. Most importantly, the program directly improves child health through better nutrition, leading to stronger concentration, attendance, and overall learning outcomes—while simultaneously supporting food security and environmental sustainability in Pacific communities.

How can the innovation be replicated and scaled up in other PICTs?

The innovation can be replicated and scaled across Pacific Island Countries and Territories (PICTs) through a modular, partnership-driven model. We work with governments (Education, Health, Agriculture) to embed meals within national school feeding and nutrition programs, supported by development partners such as UNICEF and World Food Programme.

Production can be established through regional hubs using contract processing or co-packing models, reducing the need for high upfront capital. Financing can combine public funding (school meal budgets), donor support, and blended finance, with private sector participation to ensure commercial sustainability.

Capacity building focuses on training local processors, strengthening farmer aggregation systems, and transferring technical knowledge in food safety, formulation (IP), and shelf-stable processing. Solar integration further enhances viability in energy-constrained settings.

Because the model is based on locally available crops and adaptable formulations, it can be tailored to each country’s agricultural base while maintaining consistent nutritional standards. This approach enables scalable, low-cost expansion that improves child nutrition, supports local economies, and reduces environmental impact across the Pacific.

How is the solution cost‑effective and affordable in the context of Pacific Island Countries and Territories (PICTs)?

Our solution remains cost-effective and affordable in Pacific Island Countries and Territories (PICTs) while generating strong local economic multiplier effects. A complete school meal is delivered at approximately $5.50 per child, providing high nutritional value within the operating budgets of governments and school feeding programs.

Importantly, this spend does not leave the system. Through local sourcing, contract farming, processing, packaging, and logistics, the $5.50 circulates through the local economy multiple times. Farmers receive income for climate-resilient crops, processors and MSMEs gain employment and service contracts, and transport and supply businesses benefit from ongoing distribution needs. This creates a circular value chain, rather than a one-way import expenditure.
The estimated 7x economic circulation effect means that each dollar spent generates multiple layers of local economic activity—amplifying the impact far beyond the initial meal purchase. This strengthens rural livelihoods, supports MSME growth, and builds resilience in local food systems.

At the same time, children benefit from improved nutrition, better health, and stronger learning outcomes, while communities gain from increased employment, skills development, and reduced dependence on imported foods.

By combining affordability with high local economic retention, the model delivers both immediate social impact and long-term economic development benefits for Pacific communities.

Locations (country, island, or community) where this solution has been piloted and/or implemented

The solution has been developed and piloted in Vanuatu, with operations based in Port Vila (Efate Island) and early outreach to nearby island communities. Menus have been developed and trial batches of the school meals have been successfully produced and shipped to Moso Island, validating product stability, logistics, and acceptance in a real island setting without reliance on cold chain infrastructure. Building on this pilot phase, full rollout is planned for the first quarter of 2027, targeting approximately 500 children across three locations in Vanuatu. This staged expansion will test scalability across different school and community contexts, including outer island supply chains and varying infrastructure conditions. The pilot has also engaged local farmers for raw material supply, reinforcing a contract sourcing model that supports rural livelihoods while ensuring consistent, climate-resilient crop production. Processing remains based in Port Vila, enabling efficient aggregation, quality control, and distribution. This phased implementation demonstrates a practical, scalable pathway for expanding school nutrition programs across Pacific Island Countries and Territories, particularly in settings where logistics, cost, and climate resilience are critical constraints.

Learn more:

Fine Foods Ltd disaster relief food production and innovation platform, which forms the foundation for the Meals in Schools program: https://www.finefoods.vu

ABC Pacific feature (cyclone relief meals in Vanuatu): https://www.abc.net.au/pacific/programs/pacificbeat/vanuatu-cyclone-victims-sent-pre-made-traditional-meals/12319374?utm

Abyss Vanuatu Ocean Institute

About

Abyss Vanuatu Ocean Institute (AVOI) is a science-led, community-driven initiative advancing marine restoration, climate resilience and sustainable blue economy development in Vanuatu. Through its Havannah Harbour pilot, AVOI integrates Reef Ball deployment, artificial reef design, drone-enabled monitoring and workforce training via the Vanuatu Ocean Rangers. The model combines innovation and local stewardship to restore ecosystems, strengthen biodiversity and support climate adaptation. By linking technology, community engagement and practical delivery, AVOI is developing a scalable national framework that helps translate ocean policy into measurable outcomes, creating jobs, building local capability and supporting long-term environmental resilience across island communities.

Abyss Vanuatu Ocean Institute (AVOI) delivers integrated, science-led services focused on marine restoration, climate resilience and sustainable environmental management. Its core services include the design and deployment of Reef Ball artificial reef systems and managed vessel reefs to restore degraded marine habitats, enhance biodiversity and support fisheries recovery. AVOI also provides drone-enabled monitoring and survey services, using autonomous and manned systems to track climate impacts, support conservation planning and improve data-driven decision-making across marine and coastal environments.

A central component is the development of the Vanuatu Ocean Rangers program, which builds local workforce capability in restoration, monitoring, conservation and environmental stewardship. AVOI also supports Marine Protected Area (MPA) design, ecological baseline assessments and long-term monitoring frameworks aligned with national ocean policy objectives.

Through community engagement, eco-tourism integration and applied innovation, AVOI connects environmental protection with economic opportunity. Its Havannah Harbour pilot serves as a scalable model to deliver practical climate adaptation, strengthen ecosystem resilience and enable coordinated, whole-of-government environmental outcomes across Vanuatu.

The Innovation

One of AVOI’s key innovations is the integration of the Vanuatu Ocean Ranger program with locally delivered marine restoration systems, including Reef Ball fabrication and deployment. This model combines workforce development, community engagement and practical restoration into a single, scalable framework designed for island environments.

Through structured Vanuatu Ocean Ranger Camps, over a 3 day period AVOI identifies and trains local Ni-Vanuatu participants in marine conservation, Scientific diving, restoration techniques, monitoring and stewardship. One aspect of the Rangers responsibilities is to support the fabrication and deployment of Reef Ball artificial reef systems using locally sourced materials and regional supply chains, significantly reducing costs and increasing local ownership. The approach enables degraded reef systems to be restored while simultaneously building in-country capability and employment pathways, guided by our National AVOI Play Book at its core.

This innovation directly addresses climate change by strengthening reef resilience, supporting fisheries recovery and enhancing coastal protection against storm surge and extreme weather events. It also improves ecosystem health, which is critical for food security and long-term adaptation in Pacific Island Countries and Territories (PICTs).

What makes this model particularly relevant for PICTs is its practicality and scalability. It does not rely on high-cost external inputs but instead builds local capacity, integrates customary stewardship and aligns with government policy frameworks. The system can be replicated across islands using a consistent training, deployment and governance approach.

Supported by drone-enabled monitoring and AI self learning data collection, AVOI’s model provides a cost-effective, community-led solution that connects restoration, climate resilience and sustainable economic opportunity in a way that is both locally grounded and nationally scalable.

How is this solution innovative?

AVOI’s solution is innovative because it integrates community workforce development, marine restoration and applied technology into a single, scalable delivery model tailored for island environments. Rather than treating conservation, employment and climate adaptation as separate challenges, AVOI combines them through the Vanuatu Ocean Ranger program and locally delivered Reef Ball restoration systems. This creates a practical pathway where communities are directly trained and employed to restore and monitor their own marine ecosystems. The model also incorporates drone-enabled monitoring and emerging AI-supported survey systems to improve data collection, ecological tracking and rapid response capability, including in remote and disaster-affected areas. This blend of low-cost, locally sourced restoration methods with advanced monitoring technology allows for both accessibility and scientific rigour. What makes the approach particularly innovative is its focus on scalability and replication. By developing a standardised training, deployment and governance framework, AVOI provides a repeatable model based on a National AVOI Play book that can be adapted across Pacific Island Countries, helping translate policy into measurable, community-led climate and environmental outcomes.

How can the innovation be replicated and scaled up in other PICTs

AVOI’s model is designed for replication across Pacific Island Countries and Territories (PICTs) through a structured, partnership-driven and capacity-focused approach. Following an initial two-year proof-of-concept in Vanuatu, AVOI will develop a refined National PICT Playbook outlining standard operating procedures (SOPs) and safe work method statements (SWMS), delivered in both English and Bislama, with visual and pictorial elements to ensure accessibility across diverse communities.

Scaling will be enabled through institutional partnerships with government agencies, regional bodies, scientific partners such as UTS, and local stakeholders, supported by blended financing models including public-private partnerships, eco-tourism revenue streams and conservation funding.

A key component is the development of a simplified, citizen science-based survey framework focused on key indicator species. This approach lowers technical barriers, enabling participation from communities with varying levels of formal education while strengthening data collection and stewardship.

By combining local workforce training, accessible science, and standardised systems, AVOI creates a practical, low-cost model that can be adapted regionally, empowering communities while supporting climate resilience, biodiversity restoration and sustainable economic development across PICTs.

Is your solution cost‑effective and affordable in the context of Pacific Island Countries and Territories (PICTs)?

AVOI’s solution is designed to be highly cost-effective and affordable for communities, local governments and small operators across PICTs. A core principle of the model is the use of locally available materials, including aggregates from regional quarries and, where appropriate, surplus or repurposed government materials. This significantly reduces construction and deployment costs for Reef Ball systems and associated infrastructure.

From an end-user perspective, the model lowers financial barriers by building local capability through the Vanuatu Ocean Ranger Camp Initiative and subsequent program, reducing reliance on external expertise and enabling communities to deliver and maintain restoration activities themselves. The integration of eco-tourism also creates revenue-generating opportunities that can help offset ongoing costs.

Affordability is further strengthened through the development of a streamlined cross-departmental approval pathway within the AVOI Playbook. By providing clear guidance on site selection, environmental considerations and standardised processes, local governments can reduce delays, duplication and administrative costs, enabling more efficient project delivery at scale.

Together, these elements create a low-cost, accessible and sustainable model that is practical for widespread adoption across PICTs.

Where is this being piloted?

AVOI’s solution is being piloted in Vanuatu, with Havannah Harbour (North-West Efate) identified as the primary proof-of-concept site, supported by a permanent operational and training hub at Lot 149, Lapita Estate. While over 1,000,000 Reef Balls have been deployed globally across more than 80 countries, this will be the first integrated deployment of this system in Vanuatu. The pilot combines initial baseline surveys across 12 regions using Reef Life Survey (RLS Methodology) prior to any deployments. Once 6 of the sites are selected for deployment we will deploy 50m x 10m of Reef Ball habitat restoration—designed as a 500+ year solution—, allowing us to. Continue to conduct 6 monthly replicated surveys in exactly the same 50m transects to demonstrate recruitment changes providing proof of concept. Together with the Vanuatu Ocean Ranger program, which trains and employs local Ni-Vanuatu to deliver restoration, monitoring and stewardship, supported by drone-enabled surveying, community engagement and eco-tourism integration. The approach is intentionally holistic, linking marine restoration, climate resilience, workforce development, local supply chains and government coordination into a single, place-based model. The Havannah Harbour pilot will be used to refine systems, demonstrate measurable outcomes and establish a scalable framework for national and regional replication across PICTs, through the development of our AVOI National Playbook, helping guide replication across all our satellite sites. Initial training will be conducted through AVOI Headquarters in Havannah Harbour, with Ranger selection conducted through a multi-day conservation camp where participant will all leave with new knowledge and appreciation for the terrestrial and marine environment, and Ocean Rangers selected for employment within the AVOI team at the conclusion of the camps.