2015 Agroforestry initiatives

Greetings form Secretariat of the Pacific Community!

The Agroforestry activities for the year has been planned out.

The planned activity for Fiji (Labasa demo site) will continue and first mission to the farm will be undertaken between 20th April to 25th April. Another new site in central Vitilevu will be developed this year.

The team has also undertaking agroforestry farm development work for Solomon Island in Choisuel Province. Eight communities will be assisted with this initiatives, thanks to GIZ and USAID.

Fiji is  Also earmarked to have an extra 7.5 million trees spanning six thousand hectares of forestry plantations and woodlots in a major boost for livelihoods in Viti Levu, thanks to a new initiative funded by the European Union and implemented by the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC).

The reforest project will also reduce the vulnerability of sugar cane crop to soil erosion and will protect Sugar cane access roads from damages and flooding thus benefitting the farming communities.

Reforest Fiji was launched recently by the Minister for Fisheries and Forests, Hon. Osea Naiqamu, and the head of the European Union Delegation for the Pacific, Ambassador Andrew Jacobs, at one of the project demonstration sites in Vuniyasi, Malolo, Nadi, in Western Viti Levu.

Work in Vanuatu and Tonga is ongoing. 

More updates will be made as the planned work progresses

Agroforestry In Tonga

Tuesday 5 August 2014, Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC), Tonga –‘I’m totally convinced by the concept of agroforestry and I want similar training for all extension officers in my ministry.’

These were the sentiments expressed by the Chief Executive Officer of Tonga’s Ministry of Agriculture, Food, Forests and Fisheries (MAFFF), Mrs Losaline Ma’asi, who participated in a two-day (30^th & 31^st July) agroforestry training conducted by SPC at Hango Agricultural College in Eua, Tonga.

‘I supported this training and personally got involved, as I knew we could all benefit from it and gain knowledge and skills that could make a difference in our lives and those of the clients we serve.

‘Understanding the concepts and benefits of agroforestry can help the participants to utilise locally available food crops, tree species and livestock to develop a good farming system,’ Mrs Ma’asi explained.

She noted that agroforestry has been in use for decades and there have been trials of various systems in order to identify ones that are appropriate in different environments and locations in Tonga.

Mrs Ma’asi also mentioned that she will work very closely with the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) in organising similar training for MAFFF extension staff based in Tongatapu and Vava'u.

More than fifty participants, comprising final year students and teachers from Hango Agriculture College, farmers from the USAID Climate Change Pilot Project in Houma, MAFFF staff, and members of the Petani Women’s Food Security and Climate Change Project attended the training, which was conducted by two SPC staff: Cenon Padolina and Vinesh Prasad.

Established in 1968, Hango Agriculture College began by training farmers who were involved in crop and livestock farming but later it was transformed into a diploma-level agricultural institute for students who wanted to pursue a career in the agriculture sector.

The college, which is fully accredited by the University of the South Pacific, also enrols students from Vanuatu; they make up 40% of the student population.

The Sustainable Resource Management Programme of SPC's Land Resources Division has financially and technically supported the college to establish agroforestry demonstration plots on a twenty-acre site within the college area and teach students about sustainable farming systems and the skills they need for agroforestry, which is now part of the curriculum. SPC has pledged to continue its support in providing teaching assistance and practical expertise to the college.

The agroforestry training is part of the initiative entitled Enhanced Climate Change Resilience of Food Production Systems in Pacific Island Countries and Territories, funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

The project harnesses an innovative partnership between two SPC divisions, the Applied Geoscience and Technology Division and the Land Resources Division.

SPC and USAID, in collaboration with partner agencies, are supporting the governments of six Pacific Island countries – Fiji, Kiribati, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga and Vanuatu – in their efforts to tackle the adverse effects of climate change on food production.

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SPC runs agroforestry training in Vanuatu

One of the participants using the marcotting technique on a breadfruit tree

A two-day agroforestry workshop was recently organised by the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) in Vanuatu with the main objective of enhancing the knowledge and skills of the participants in the areas of nursery design and management, seeds and seedling production, and plant propagation.

Twenty participants from the Department of Forestry, Agriculture and Livestock and the Vanuatu Agricultural Research and Technical Centre (VARTC) attended the workshop, which was held at the premises of VARTC in Luganville, Espirito Santo.

The agroforestry training is part of the initiative entitled Enhanced climate change resilience of food production systems in Pacific Island countries and territories, funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

According to the country coordinator of the project, Romone Luke, this training has enabled him and his fellow participants to acquire the necessary basic knowledge and skills to be able to start making improvements to their current farming practices following the agroforestry concept, which will contribute to the overall goal of achieving food and nutritional security, biodiversity conservation, improvement of soil health and secured incomes for families and communities.

‘Under the USAID project, we are developing an agroforestry demonstration farm on the island of Uraparapara, located near Sola Island, to show our communities how they can optimise the productivity of their farm lots. The knowledge and skills gained from this training will help us a lot in making our project a success,’ said Mr Luke.

'The participants,' he added, 'have now realised the importance of selecting good planting materials and properly maintaining a nursery.'

Mr Luke elaborated. 'We aim to spread agroforestry farming practices all over Vanuatu, with the help of line ministries such as forestry, livestock, agriculture and fisheries. This is to bring about an integrated farming approach that provides more options to farmers. It will also show that all these sectors contribute to improving the livelihood of farmers.'

The project harnesses an innovative partnership between two SPC divisions, the Applied Geoscience and Technology Division (AGTD) and the Land Resources Division (LRD).

AGTD is providing geographic information systems data to LRD, enabling more accurate and informed implementation of climate change resilience activities on the ground.

SPC and USAID, in collaboration with partner agencies, are supporting the governments of six Pacific countries – Fiji, Kiribati, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga and Vanuatu – in their efforts to tackle the adverse effects of climate change on food production.

The support includes updating vegetation and land cover maps at the national level, and working with local communities to implement appropriate adaptation measures to build their resilience to climate change.

SPC’s Cenon Padolina and Vinesh Prasad conducted the two-day training on agroforestry in Vanuatu.

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Better access to information will assist Pacific growers

A three-day workshop on strengthening and disseminating value chain-related information, skills, and approaches in the Pacific Islands is being organised in Fiji by the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) in collaboration with the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA).

Acknowledging the support of CTA and the European Union, the Acting Deputy Director of the SPC Land Resource Division, Sairusi Bulai, highlighted the importance of sharing information and knowledge for greater impact.

‘It is only when we work together collaboratively and in true partnership that we will be able to start making positive changes for our people,’ he said. 

‘This is especially important for us in the Pacific because of the many challenges that we face as small island countries.’

Mr Bulai added the initiative is in line with SPC’s greater emphasis on cross-sectoral and multi-disciplinary approaches in providing its services.

‘During last year’s workshop on value chains, which we also organised with the support of CTA and the EU, it became apparent that access to more and better information on the subject is needed for Pacific to benefit from such a process.’ 

Therefore, he added, the main objective of this workshop will be to review and provide feedback to the draft guide developed by Kokosiga Pacific, led by Dr Andrew McGregor to facilitate the better understanding of value chain.

‘This guide can be effectively used to help improve small businesses in the Pacific,’ he said.

Samson Vilvil Fare of CTA shared similar sentiments, and he said that CTA’s key priorities are strengthening agricultural and rural development policy processes, improving agricultural value chains and access to markets for small-scale producers, and enhancing information, communication and knowledge management capacities.

‘Therefore, the SPC CTA value chain project involves a value chains portal providing access to materials to facilitate the exchange of information between agencies as well as improved access to information by farmers and the private sector,’ said Mr Fare.

He added that the project also provides a set of tools that could be used to analyse the performance of Pacific Island value chains and identify steps to be taken to make those chains more efficient and raise awareness among value chain actors in the region of the potential benefits of multi-stakeholder consultation.

Mr Fare also emphasised the ownership of the value chain tools, saying that Pacific Islanders must own the tools developed for value chains on specific commodities.

The meeting will discuss and identify the way forward for the project via feedback from 24 participants from 7 countries in the region.

Follow me on Twitter: @Vineshfiji.

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