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.”
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.
ReplyDeletethe other thing the department should prioritize is to put down the jotted points of the plan that was discussed into work and practice. But would be better if our community is trained only to the basic skills so that the communication among them would be hardly carried out. Concerning the mobile phone reporting, yes i agree that this system should be established so that farmers can connect with customer to negotiate their products and their price, together with Agriculture Extension Officers for assisting and advice about the quality of the framers products. This is so important because it determine the quality of the product from transportation from the farm to the market and then to the customers hand......great job bro on Merging Information for Strategy Planning
Agree to you Iosia. There have been many collaborative workshops and meetings to improve our food security but lesser work is seen carried out on the field. I believe the only way we can put our words to the task is by sacrificing our time to the field and educate our communities so that they can rely on their own for basic information about agriculture and livestock management.
ReplyDeleteThat phone reporting will be introduce later mid March this year, but yes will be benefitted to farmers, Agriculture officials, the consumers and Producers in discussing their price and product to be sell. It will be pushed to force to be involved in the Department strategic Planning for the next 10 years
Thank You Iosia for the contribution