Many Pacific nations are struggling to control an epidemic of heart disease and diabetes linked to changes in diet. Islanders are eating less fruit and vegetables and more processed foods like rice, flour and sugar. Joanna McCarthy met one man in Solomon Islands' Makira province who's working hard to convince his community about the health benefits of food they can grow themselves.

Francis Wehi, farmer: Welcome to Tatena, our family's community based learning centre located in Star Harbour.

Being a long-time principal of Manivovo Training Centre, I shifted here and started up a training base to support the people in the community, the people in the village - women, youth, elders - in small training, skills for life more especially.

The world sees that this is very important, food security, because of the population increase and the food shortage.

Joanna McCarthy: Francis Wehi is working with an Australian academic to educate villagers about nutrition.

Dr Graham Lyons, University of Adelaide: This one is some bananas from this island, from Makira, which is renowned for its banana diversity. Many of these have good levels of beta carotene, so (it) helps build up the vitamin A inside your body - especially important for pregnant women and for small children, because they can be more susceptible to things like malaria.

Joanna McCarthy:The program is funded by the governments of Solomon Islands and Australia.

Dr Graham Lyons: A lot of people have got hooked on our Western style foods which is a pity. A lot of them seem to think that something that comes in a packet from Australia or maybe China is better because it's packaged and it's been processed. Too much of those foods predispose to diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, certain cancers - and, indeed, in the last 40 years in much of the Pacific we've seen big increases in those in fact they were hardly measurable say 40 years ago.

It surprises you to think of it - it seems it couldn't happen because they have so many orange type vegetables up here - mangoes, paw paws, this sort of thing, and plenty of green leafy vegetables.

Francis Wehi: We begin to know the value in the local sweet potato, more especially the orange type of potato and the carrot, banana. Now they know the value and are going for it. They begin to accept it and now they are planting it.

Female villager: For us in Star Harbour, we would like to show you the potatoes I planted in my garden at Tatena.

Francis Wehi: If we are to encourage the (seed) bulking and working with the people on food security, then we've got to see that the indications should come from the people themselves. Then that really tells that the message taught here in the bulking is happening with the people. That's the best indication I could ever think about.