Monday, 11 November 2013

Issues & Challenges

Piglet Issue
Another factor that also deteriorates the improvement of our food security system is the lacked information handed over to farmers, and that of not enough motivation to farmers about good livestock & poultry management procedures.
Concerning an issue from an active farmer here on Funafuti, there is an issue from his farm regarding a piglet with no anal opening. Appropriate officials was informed concerning the issue, and proper advice was given to the farmer from the Departments senior officers and advice from Dr. Ken Cokanasiga of SPC. This is his first ever issue to his piglet since he first start farming Pigs. At first, he seeks advice from an Agriculture Officer to assist him with this issue. And I respond advising the farmer to keep feeding his piglet not to isolate them from its siblings while they are weaning

The Livestock Officer (former) Mr. Peleti Pole was informed and he elaborates more about the issue. He also advice that for the record, the animal must be put down, as it can be a burden to the feeding process and that when the piglet grow, there might be difficulties in its defecation. The same issue was reported to Dr. Ken of SPC via email and was copied to the Director of the Department for awareness. They both have the same advice with that of the former Livestock Officer Mr. Peleti Pole. The farmer was surprised to receive the advice because he didn’t expect that his piglet will be in this situation

We came to a conclusion with the farmer about the challenging issue he now faced and he respond that he will still be farming this piglet, until it’s good to be consume, where he think it’s the appropriate time to put down his animal.

Concerning this issue, to what I have discovered, farmers must be taught even the basic skills of Livestock Management where none so far practice in our farming system. Farmers must be trained so that they can manage their Livestock and Poultry safe and sound. A farmers’ association must also be established so that discussion can be made through the Department and them to have proper sounding to whatever disease or issues as such that might affect their development resulting in food security and their livelihoods. If more issues like this were raised, then there is no improvement in our food security because the mortality rate of Pigs will be on the young age group

I recommend the Establishment of Farmers Association to be included in the Department Priorities in their Road Map for strategic planning
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3 comments:

  1. Unknown10 December 2013 at 22:14

    I had a good time in reading through the blog and it amazes me in different positive ways, as u can imagine a smaller Island country which has little and poor soils for agriculture is a big challenge for locals to engage in the system of farming but still they are fortunate to have donors or funding from countries like Taiwan that promote agricultural activities in smaller nations where they introduce new technologies and methods in cultivating crops and plants that once was said that could hardly be grown on atoll Islands such as Tuvalu and also to Kiribati.Therefore, as mentioned in the blog locals should maintain projects like these as it will help them to preserve their food security and sustain local food gardening for future development.

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  2. Agriculture on the Atolls - Nanumaga Island3 March 2014 at 20:48

    Yes Michael I believe the only way we can succeed in most of our developments is by our reliability to foreign donors. Most of the Pacific Islands are relying heavily on this funds for their developments whereas on the other hand trigger a loss in our long investments. Most of the fertilizers and chemicals they introduce can be of valuable asset to the agriculture sector but deeper on the other hand, it affect our soil formation which can be hardly to recycle because we are atolls and coral islands.

    In other Pacific Island countries. The soil used for vegetation using fertilizer can recover from the loss from fertilizer in about 60 - 70 years. What about our coral and reef islands, fertilizers can may be washed down to the ocean and affect our marine life and their ecosystems. So just getting our head straight about the effects of fertilizers. I prefer fully organic farming system to be re-organize and put into plan for the community to change from fertilizers to fully organic farming

    Thank You Michael for this contribution

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  3. Unknown16 October 2015 at 21:33

    Thanks for sharing this such magnificent blog actually very interesting keep composing for a kind blog.
    Katni Grey Sandstone

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