EU SPC partnership on policies and markets to benefit Pacific farmers

Image

                                                                       Photo credits: SPC

Improving rural livelihoods by assisting smallholders to gain access to competitive markets is a move in the right direction in the effort to alleviate poverty. This is the guiding principle driving the European Union-funded Pacific Agriculture Policy Programme (PAPP) that held its inception meeting in Nadi (3–4 December 2014). The meeting was attended by delegates from ten Pacific Island countries, farmer groups and regional agricultural institutes.

Deputy Director of the SPC Land Resources Division, Mr Sairusi Bulai said in his welcome remarks that PAPP is the Pacific facility for the Intra-ACP Agriculture Policy Programme (APP) in partnership with the European Union and two other partners – a Caribbean linkage through the Inter-American Institute of Agriculture (IICA) and the Technical Centre for Agriculture and Rural Development (CTA) – providing overall coordination.  The Secretariat of the Pacific Community is implementing the PAPP programme. The targeted objective is to enhance the regional and interregional (Caribbean and Pacific) capabilities of agricultural sectors in eradicating poverty. A goal of PAPP is to promote forums for the technical exchange of scientific information as learning opportunities to address the development needs of smallholder agriculture. Other support is aimed at strengthening capacity in policy development and improving access to markets. 

Mr Bulai said that conditions for agriculture production are in many ways comparable in the Caribbean and in the Pacific. Both regions face similar (if not the same) challenges from climate change, natural disasters, high food prices, small internal markets, reliability on a few export commodities, etc. The countries in the Pacific and Caribbean are, with few exceptions, identified and described by the UN as small island developing states (SIDS).

‘PAPP is in line with our LRD strategic objective to support informed policy decisions, advocacy and knowledge-sharing on sustainable land, agriculture and forestry management and development. PAPP will also complement national key outcomes in the agriculture and forestry sectors,’ said Mr Bulai.

The representative of the Delegation of the European Union for the Pacific, Patrick Polacsek, who previously worked in Brussels on Intra-ACP trade, commented on the ambitious work of PAPP on three levels: the policy development governance level, the  middle level with intermediary farmer organisations, and the farmer level. He said it is important for PAPP to link to other EU projects with similar objectives, such as the South Pacific Tourism Organisation initiative linking farmers to the hotel industry.

‘There are other EU projects on disaster risk management and climate change, where the objectives of PAPP complement those of regional initiatives. PAPP is strategically placed to address these issues for poverty reduction,’ he added. 

Mr Polacsek encouraged delegates to take this opportunity to strengthen professional networks and share knowledge to improve understanding of poverty reduction.

PAPP Team Leader, Mr Vili Caniogo, thanked the Pacific Island delegates for attending the inception meeting. He said that through the European Union funded PAPP project smallholder farming in the Pacific will be assisted in the areas of policies, markets, and developing information and knowledge management strategy to capture and share knowledge on improved smallholder farming. 

‘Sharing knowledge through technical exchange forums is one platform that PAPP engages to increase accessibility of applied knowledge for improved decision making. The appointment of the project steering committee will increase the impact of the PAPP project at the regional level, and the national focal points will bring greater benefits to farming communities,’ he said.

PAPP is partnering with the regional farmer organisation – Pacific Island Farmer Organisation Network (PIFON) – to reach national farmer organisations with technical and extension advice and capacity building to help smallholders reach more markets. PIFON is the umbrella organisation for national farmer organisations to coordinate capacity building, share success stories and lessons learnt, and support exchanges of expertise amongst stakeholders and donor agencies. 

Delegates from Papua New Guinea’s National Agricultural Research Institute (NARI) shared their experiences on improving organisational knowledge management and communications. The aim is to increase accessibility to technical information for improved policy development and information dissemination. 

In the country reports, the need was expressed to help the smaller countries develop their agricultural sector policies and plans and develop commodity specific policies. A few of the larger countries had developed long-term sector plans and strategies and the onus now is for these national plans to link to PAPP activities for implementation of some key sector outputs addressing food security, soil health, pests and diseases, genetic resources, climate change, transboundary biosecurity concerns and trade. 

Partnering with the Pacific media is a crucial link in the work of PAPP to reach the diversity of agricultural stakeholders, and to reach the agenda of local media organisations. President of the Pacific Islands News Association (PINA), Moses Stevens discussed about the Pacific media landscape and raise the point of how important it is to push the agriculture agenda and to make it everybody’s business: make agriculture a priority issue on the national agenda. A flow-on effect will be stronger government support for increased funding to research and extension. The work of the media is closely linked to information and communications management, one of the main pillars of PAPP work. An integrated Information Communication and Knowledge Management (ICKM) strategy developed collaboratively with the Centre for Agricultural and Rural Development (CTA) and partners in the Caribbean will be the framework for PAPP information and communications work. 

PAPP Communications and Knowledge Management team conducted a participatory presentation on extension information dissemination. Delegates had the opportunity to review the pieces of extension information presented in the meeting room and gave their feedback to plenary on their perception and reaction to the extension messages in the posters, leaflets, fact sheets and newsletters presented. A noted comment was the need for extension pieces to have strong emotional messages, to drive readers to act upon the extension messages. Another useful comment is to design the extension pieces to show what benefits are to the farmer, mention social and economic benefits, or benefits in the future by conserving the environment; present the information to stir an emotion in the audience.  

Having access to accurate and reliable agricultural data is essential for developing effective strategies and programmes to link smallholders to markets. PAPP plans to address this need by investing in the collection of data through agricultural censuses and market surveys in partnership with the UN Food and Agriculture Organization. It will provide capacity building for the analysis of these data, both on the production of core statistical indicators and also on the use of cost-benefit analysis to support efficient project planning of natural resources. It will also support the dissemination of this analysis through investing in online databases and publications. Some countries have requested assistance in facilitating agricultural census and household income studies. To ensure work continues in this area beyond the lifetime of PAPP, it will also support countries to develop longer-term strategies for the collection and use of agricultural statistics.

SPC made presentations on regional work to identify and develop resilient food crop varieties and livestock breeds showing resilient characteristics to changing weather and extremes in climatic conditions. In the northern Pacific, collaborative work with SPC has led to screening for root crops tolerant to saltwater intrusion. 

In the SPC presentation on improving livestock, it was pointed out for the countries to be on alert and for the continuous surveillance for zoonotic diseases from the transboundary movement of goods and passengers; early warning of an outbreak is essential for a coordinated emergency response and technical assistance from SPC.

The meeting concluded with selection of members for the high level PAPP Project Steering Committee with representation from the project countries as well as regional organisations, farmer groups, NGOs and the media. Representative from Cook Islands, Patrick Arioka, was nominated the first Chairman of the Project Steering Committee. A technical committee charged with national work activities will also be  convened to manage local activities. 

In the evening of 4 December, the Pacific Agriculture and Policy Network (PAFPNet) was launched. The launch was preceded by a short presentation on how PAFPNet was formed, its main objectives, and the on-line tools available for information dissemination, and it concluded with a short video clip on PAFPNet as an awareness piece and a call for membership.