Earnings from the Rocks

The Taiwan Farm has promoted subsistence farming to fellow interested farmers on the capital and motivates them to compete in various competitions in growing vegetable crops to attain better health status. In their other development, they have succeeded in growing many types of vegetable crops and sell it to the public. This result in the improvement of the natives’ dietary health status

Beginning from a few years back, the Department in collaboration with the Taiwan Embassy in Funafuti setup a farm naming the “Te Taugasoa Fiafia Farm” meaning Happy Friendly Farm. From there, the eyes of the people were upon this farm development and most of the time there are new visitors to the farm in curiosity of the Taiwan expert and his willing to grow crops.

The site is a very rocky area where all the Pigpens are located. All the Pigpens were re-allocated to newly build pens which were financially assisted by the Taiwan Embassy. The extension of the Farm went swiftly due to the financial assistance from the Taiwan Embassy, and labour service from the Departments. Not so long after that, the weeding of the area begins after the excavation, and later on, the planting begins. It takes about 2 whole years for the excavation and the weeding to complete before growing takes place.

Many crops were grown in the “Te Taugasoa Fiafia Farm”, but the boundary was embedded with flower plants and pumpkin. This benefits the local very much because the flowers growing on the farm boundary can be used by the people in social occasion for decoration and making garlands., same for the pumpkin, Pig farmers or pass-by can pollinate and harvest for food security purpose. This promotes the peoples food security and their livelihoods.

All the crops on the farm will be taking care by irrigation and those are the crops that consider to be selling to the public. Every Friday, in good or bad weather, people will line up on the Farm gate waiting to buy vegetable crops from the Farm. This brings in revenue to the Department and food security secureness to the people of Tuvalu

Merging Information for Strategy Planning

FAO in collaboration with the Department arranged a workshop for the Department and its stakeholders in planning strategies for the Department for the next 10 years, 2014 – 2023. The 3 day workshop was funded by FAO and was consulted by two FAO officers; one is from the FAO office in Suva, the other is a local consultant.

The main goal of the workshop is to create strategies and developing models to enhance food security purposes and to attain and sustain the livelihoods and dietary health of the indigenous in rural and urban level. Involve in the workshop are officers from various departments, local farmers and representatives from the private sector, which in turn play vital roles in sharing ideas and information during the workshop

The Department in its development have few powers and resources to achieve its key policies objectives in the Te Kakeega II, but should have to explore the possibility of creating a network for coordinating and harmonizing initiatives on achieving its key policies through agreements or memoranda of understanding.

Concerning the Departments Priorities and Strategies according to the Te Kakeega II, “The development of agriculture in Tuvalu must confront many fundamental issues and challenges. Among them poor soils and growing conditions, small land areas, few comparative advantages, decline outer island populations, increasing urbanisation, declining interest in traditional agriculture practices, distance to export markets, and poor local market access for those who do wish to produce cash crops. Nonetheless, there is still considerable scope for increasing production for local consumption and reversing recent production declines. Key challenges will be to revitalise and expand agriculture extension services, encourage people to once again turn to local rather than imported foods for better nutrition health, and improve transport and marketing of local produce.” (GOVERNMENT, 2005)

In order to achieve the mentioned challenges, the Department to my own extent must have the ability to identify its key players and to have better reporting which I recommend the Mobile Phone Reporting to communicate amongst stakeholders. Since there have been mobile development in Tuvalu, to link the farmers together with the market, extension officers and the Department, the setup of this Mobile Phone Reporting might be another way to execute the priorities and strategies for Tuvalu until 2023. The department must promote this phone reporting and prioritize it because it can contribute in the long run for the next 10 years.