Pacific Community - Land Resources Division Newsletter 2016

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APRIL, 2016

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ROAD TO GUAM T

he Festival of Pacific Arts is an international gathering that showcases Pacific Island arts and culture. The festival is held every four years on a different Pacific island or territory, and in 2016 the festival will be hosted on Guam from 22 May to 4 June.

The event attracts huge numbers of people from many different countries, and provides Pacific Islanders with an opportunity to present their cultural values and roots to the rest of the world.

Guam is proud of its natural treasures and ecosystems. This natural diversity provides for the livelihoods and sustainability of its population. Guam is free from many harmful pests and diseases that are found elsewhere in the world. Should these invasive pests and diseases enter Guam, they could cause devastating damage to crops, livestock and food sources.

Due to the huge number of people that will be travelling to Guam for the Festival of Arts, the territory’s borders will be vulnerable and at risk from exotic pests and diseases. Festival delegates from participating countries will be bringing cultural items into Guam that may be made from plant or animal material. Staff of the Pacific Community’s Biosecurity and Trade Team, together with Guam Quarantine, have been working on various plans to prevent exotic pests and diseases from entering Guam in the first place. Such strategies include sending out information to festival delegates to make them aware of the risks of bringing in potential pests, and

Pests could cause a devastating damage to agriculture in Guam

placing banners at the ports of entry so that visitors are aware of any items that may be a problem.

A continuous watch will be kept for pests such as those on exotic fruit that may gain a foothold and become a widespread problem once in Guam.

Guam Quarantine will organise treatment for regulated items that were not treated in their originating country and those items believed to be infested with pests or which pose a risk. Countries have been advised to work with their quarantine divisions to make sure items that come under Guam’s regulations that require treatment for pests are, in fact, treated or disinfected well before bringing these items into Guam.

LRD’s Biosecurity and Trade Division has also published a ‘Biosecurity Manual for Handicrafts’, which will be used by quarantine officials and country delegates to determine the particular regulations that govern the movement of handicrafts from one country

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to another.

LRD has always strived to protect agricultural biodiversity by keeping countries free from pests and diseases; so, with the collaboration of those involved in the festival and the vigilant officers based at the borders, we can make sure the festival is a successful one without any pest or disease outbreaks, while maintaining a professional attitude towards guests coming to enjoy Pacific Islands arts and culture.

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Head of Delegation Andrew Jacobs hands over the tray of seedlings to Ministry of Agricultre Deputy Permanent Secretary, Urai Waibuta

Nursery owner Dives Bharos shows the seedlings to EU Head of Delegation Andrew Jacobs and invited guests.

SEEDLINGS TO BOOST POST-WINSTON FOOD SECURITY S

ome 43,000 fruit and vegetable seedlings to help with Fiji’s recovery after the devastation caused by tropical Cyclone Winston were handed over to the Ministry of Agriculture by the European Union (EU) Ambassador to the Pacific, H.E. Andrew Jacobs, in Nadi on 24 March.

The seedlings were propagated as part of a joint development scheme set up by the EU and the Pacific Community (SPC), called ‘Improving Key Services to Agriculture’ (IKSA).

‘This project is the first of several EU-SPC joint initiatives to provide direct support to communities affected by tropical Cyclone Winston, helping them to

meet their food security needs in the short term,’ Ambassador Jacobs said when he handed over the seedlings to Fiji’s Ministry of Agriculture Deputy Permanent Secretary, Uraia Waibuta.

‘These seedlings consist of a mixture of cabbages, eggplants, tomatoes, chillies, papayas and others,’ he added. ‘Over the next few months, a total of close on 450,000 vegetable and fruit seedlings will be made available.

This will enable communities to access fresh and nutritious crops from the next few weeks’.

The IKSA project is supporting new opportunities in horticultural and sugar markets, through research and by assisting farm-

ers to venture into horticultural crops.

‘We’re committed to supporting the interests and well-being of our members, and in this case for Fiji and its farming communities, we’re standing by them in their hour of need,’ SPC’s Deputy Director-General, Dr Audrey Aumua, said.

‘Our technical and scientific staff are assisting the Fiji government in various response groups, such as national disaster management coordination, food security and livelihoods, energy, health and nutrition, spatial data, water and sanitation and maritime transportation,’ Dr Aumua said.

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ROAD TO GUAM................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 1 SEEDLINGS TO BOOST POST-WINSTON FOOD SECURITY.......................................................................................................................................................... 2 LRD SCOPING MISSION TO PITCAIRN ISLAND.......................................................................................................................................................................................... 4 TUVALU JOINS INTERNATIONAL PLANT TREATY.................................................................................................................................................................................. 5 SMALLHOLDER FARMERS INVOLVED IN NEW AGRI-TRADE FINANCE PRODUCTS................................................................................................... 6 MODERN PLAN FOR FIJI’S LIVESTOCK FARMERS................................................................................................................................................................................. 7 COMMUNITY FOCUS...................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 8

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TC WINSTON AGRICULTURAL, FORESTRY & LIVESTOCK DAMAGES

“We’re committed to supporting the interests and well-being of our members, and in this case for Fiji and its farming communities,

Man stands in front of his damaged Nursery in Ba.

Affected Coconut trees & Mangrove along Ra costal roads.

A damaged Papaya Farm in Ba

Destruction of coconut trees in Southern Taveuni affect livestock

Banana farm in interior, Ra

Affected pine trees in Ra

Farms near river-banks been washed away

This cow have been eating breadfruit leaves, from the fallen breadfruit tree.

Dr Audrey Aumua Pacific Community Deputy Director-General The seedlings from the IKSA project match up with the supply of seeds and crop cuttings provided by the Ministry of Agriculture and other partners involved in efforts to help Fiji’s agriculture section recover.

Last week, another SPC-EU initiative, ‘Reforest Fiji’, made 250,000 tree seedlings available from its nurseries to be distributed among thousands of rural farming households in the sugarcane growing region.

This scheme has the long-term goal of rehabilitating degraded landscapes and improving watershed areas. See SPC News.

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SPC Entomologist Mclean Vaqalo (right) with Pitcairn islanders during scoping mission

LRD SCOPING MISSION TO PITCAIRN ISLAND

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t is vitally important for the people of Pitcairn Island to manage the land their crops grow on, improve the use of the soil, and control pests to better enable them to grow food, both to eat and to possibly export.

SPC, in partnership with the Pitcairn government, helped by providing training and advice to farmers on how to 1) manage and protect the soil, 2) keep the soil fertile, 3) control pests, and 4) manage the land. One of the objective’s of this mission was to conduct a scoping study to examine the general economic development of Pitcairn, particularly with regard to agriculture.

The training, which involved 12 people and covered soil and pest management, was the first one that SPC had ever conducted for farmers through its LRD . The purpose of the study was to help identify any gaps in development by using the Integrated Business Model (IBM) approach. This approach could help give better organised support to Pitcairn in the future.

In recent years, LRD has begun using IBM approach to try and become more efficient in giving 4

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SPC LRD Mclean Vaqalo & Senimili Baiculacula with the Pitcairn Islands team.

help to Pacific Island countries and territories. Understanding the situation of Pitcairn farming and finding out the needs and gaps in agriculture and forestry development was seen as an essential first step in putting the IBM into action on Pitcairn.

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This visit to Pitcairn gave LRD the opportunity to gather information about farmers’ needs and plans for the future. It is hoped that this information will be useful for providing future LRD assistance to Pitcairn.

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TUVALU JOINS INTERNATIONAL PLANT TREATY T

uvalu has signed an international agreement to join 136 other nations working together on conserving their food crops, seeds and the plants animals feed on for research, training and breeding. SPC, through its Centre for Pacific Crops and Trees, supported this move by Tuvalu to sign the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (UN FAO) International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. The agreement significantly helps countries work towards sustainable food security for all people, making sure everyone always has enough to eat.

When Tuvalu’s Minister for Natural Resources, Hon Elisala Pita, signed the instrument of accession to the treaty, the Secretary of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, Shakeel Bhatti welcomed Tuvalu as a new member and said that Tuvalu would be able to obtain crop varieties that were better able to survive pests and diseases, including varieties of taro and bananas.

Pacific Agricultural Policy Project, Increasing Agriculture Commodity Trade project, and the Pacific Agricultural Plant Genetic Resources Network.

“By joining the Treaty the country will be able to access a wider pool of resilient crop varieties available in the multilateral system to improve its food security,” Shakeel Bhatti Secretary of the International Treaty,

In acknowledging this technical help, Minister Pita said that the ‘support of the Pacific Community and the international development partners is greatly appreciated by Tuvalu, and that this assistance has enabled our small island country to access a range of resilient, staple food crops that are benefiting our

people, now and in the future.’

Under the treaty the many different types of plants (biodiversity) and the Pacific’s main food crops are conserved, used and exchanged with other countries for everyone’s sustainable food security. Financial support is also provided through the treaty’s ‘Benefit-sharing Fund’ for farmers and researchers to continue with keeping all of the plants growing and to studying and improving old and new varieties.

‘SPC’s Centre for Pacific Crops and Trees has provided Tuvalu with technical advice and various crop varieties from the global gene pool available under the treaty’s multilateral system, in partnership with different inter..,continues on page 8

‘By joining the treaty, the country will be able to access a wider pool of resilient crop varieties available in the multilateral system to improve its food security,’ Secretary Bhatti said.

It was explained that the treaty could help Tuvalu produce a secure food supply for all its people by the UN FAO (through Rome and the Samoa Subregional Office), which worked in collaboration with SPC through the European Union-supported

Mrs Make Fousaga Lofeagai growing SPC CePaCT sweet potato for her family needs

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SMALLHOLDER FARMERS INVOLVED IN NEW AGRI-TRADE FINANCE PRODUCTS

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eing able to get bank services and loans is often difficult for businesses in many developing countries, including Fiji and other Pacific Island nations. It is particularly hard for farmers and others working in agriculture because of the amounts they sell are small, the high costs in running a business, the farming industry section of the economy in most island countries is small, and financial services are underdeveloped.

The EU, through the Pacific Agriculture Policy Project run by SPC is helping to provide farmers with better links to markets by making sure important banking services are available to them.

On 12 February 2016, SPC held a consultative workshop for about 25 farmers so that they could talk to representatives of Merchant Finance Limited (MFL) about lending and saving services for people working in agricultural industries. MFL is developing a range of new banking services in the agricultural trade area to serve the needs of farmers and others working in small agricultural businesses who are involved in some way in buying and selling. All the farmers selected to come to the workshop had some sort of buying contracts, and so were able to give valuable information to MFL about ways to design and run these banking services to best help farmers.

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David Hickes, a representative of the famers selling to hotels in Sigatoka welcomed MFL’s new ideas for banking services for those in the agricultural industry.

‘The participatory approach taken via the consultative workshops is very important. This has allowed farmers’ voices to be heard in determining their financing needs,’ he said.

SPC’s Pacific Agriculture Policy Project Adviser, Vili Caniogo, also praised MFL’s ideas, saying that bold steps were needed by the financial community now to address this long-held issue.

approach used in the workshop so that it could hear directly from farmers who were already using contracts to run their farming businesses. MFL also welcomed the collaboration with SPC because of its direct strategic and technical links with farmers and buyers.

Further cooperation is planned by SPC and MFL to support the new banking services and to let farmers and workers in agricultural industries know about them.

MFL welcomed the collaborative

Farmers selling there product at the Fiji Agriculture Show, in Lautoka, Fiji

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MODERN PLAN FOR FIJI’S LIVESTOCK FARMERS T

he first ever plan for developing livestock farming in Fiji was the topic of a meeting on ‘Livestock for Livelihoods – New Generation’ held in Nadi, Fiji from 17–19 February 2016. The meeting, called the Fiji Livestock Sector Forum, involved 60 people from the Fiji livestock farming industry in the workshop discussions.

The three-day workshop was jointly run by the Pacific Agriculture Policy Project, which is supported by the EU, SPC, and the Fiji Ministry of Agriculture, with the Fiji Livestock Sector Strategy Working Group.

The Fiji Livestock Sector Strategy is a plan that sets out tactics intended to help modernise and energise the local livestock industry so it can produce enough food to meet the needs of Fiji’s next generation. This is the key for sustainable livelihoods, and is the ways and means that will help farmers to continue earning a living in the future.

The Acting Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture, Mr Uraia Waibuta said, ‘The strategy

”The livestock sector has great potential for Fiji,” H.E. Andrew Jacobs European Union Ambassador to Fiji and the Pacific,

workshop will create a clear plan for assisting the livestock industry to answer the challenges it faces, including Fiji’s continued need to import livestock products, the demands from the growing tourism industry, and a renewed effort by the national government to improve the agriculture sector.

should also strengthen linkages to domestic, regional and international markets, in line with Fiji’s National Agriculture Policy 2020.’

‘The livestock sector has great potential for Fiji,’ the EU Ambassador to Fiji and the Pacific, H.E. Andrew Jacobs said. ‘The European Union, through the Pacific Agriculture Policy Programme, is pleased to support its growth through this new strategy, and we look forward to its successful implementation. I am convinced it will make a big difference to the success of livestock farmers.’

The strategy discussed at the

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national donors,’ Dr Audrey Aumua explained.

COMMUNIT Y FOCUS

Dr Aumua also said it was timely to announce this progress during the 2016 United Nations International Year of Pulses, with its theme ‘Nutritious seeds for a sustainable future’.

Tuvalu’s main natural staple foods and most important exports are fish and copra. Crops covered under the new treaty include staple crops such as coconut, breadfruit, taro and bananas.

Tuvalu is the fourth smallest island country in the world and has very limited natural resources, including food crops to support its estimated 11,000 population. This makes the country depend greatly on imported food and basic products from Fiji, Australia and New Zealand. The Pacific Island nation is also extremely vulnerable to challenges caused by climate change, such as salt water entering the fragile water supply during floods.

Tuvalu is the ninth Pacific Island country from the southwest Pacific to join the agreement, following Cook Islands, Kiribati, Palau, Fiji, Samoa, Marshall Islands, Papua New Guinea and Tonga. France has ratified the treaty, so its Pacific Island territories are also members.

Banana crop growing well by Henry Igitae in Fakaifou, Tuvalu provided by the SPC CePaCT under various donor funded projects.

Ulamila Lutu, presenting at the World Congress on Root and Tuber Crops, held in Nanning Guangxi, China

Pacific Scientist presented research on improvement of taro production system in China Ulamila Lutu, a senior research technician at SPC’s Centre for Pacific Crops and Trees (CePaCT) in Fiji was among 750 representatives attending the first World Congress on Root and Tuber Crops on 20 January, held in Nanning Guangxi, China.

CePACT employs a number of scientists who deliver significant outcomes in the protection and conservation of Pacific crops and trees.

Around 80% of these scientists are women, including Ms. Lutu.

Ms Lutu was there to present important research on new methods for improving the supply of taro planting material. Improved production methods are important for food security, to make sure there is always enough food for all people, and taro export industries in Pacific Island countries and territories.

This research is especially significant in light of the taro leaf blight that caused Samoa’s taro exports to fall dramatically from 6,000 tonnes in 1993 to almost zero in 1994.

The study was done by SPC’s ‘Developing a clean seed system for market-ready taro cultivators in Samoa’ project, with funding assistance from the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research under the Pacific Agribusiness Research Development Initiative.

The SPC trial found that it is possible to reduce the time needed to produce viable taro planting material by eight weeks – from 28 weeks to 20 weeks – by using the bioreactor system. This system uses a type of laboratory container that is better for growing plantlets in various liquid solutions.

CePaCT’s research, made possible with Australian government support, providess significant insight to how new mass production methods can help meet the growing demand for traditional export crops in the Pacific.

About SPC Land Resources Division (LRD) LRD’s core business is to improve the food and nutritional security of the Pacific Community through the sustainable management and development of land, agriculture and forestry resources. This is accomplished through the delivery of technical support, training and advice to our member country governments in the areas of plant protection, conservation and use of plant genetic resources, animal health and production, agroforestry, sustainable systems for agriculture, forestry and land management, and biosecurity and trade facilitation.

LAND RESOURCES NEWS IS THE QUARTERLY NEWSLETTER OF SPC LAND RESOURCES DIVISION. For feedback, comments and contributions, please contact: SalomeT@spc.int, or the LRD helpdesk, lrdhelpdesk@spc.int.

SPC Land Resources Division Private Mail Bag, Suva, Fiji Islands Telephone: (679) 337 0733 Fax: (679) 337 0021 Visit our website: www.spc.int/lrd