THE need to consolidate agricultural projects to achieve the desired outcomes such as increasing agricultural income in rural areas was a major point of discussion at a two-day workshop that ended yesterday.
Co-ordinated by the Crops Extension Services of the Ministry of Agriculture and the Pacific Community (SPC), the workshop Supporting smallholder farmers in Asia and Pacific Islands Region through Strengthened Agricultural Advisory Services (SAAS) brought together 26 representatives from Government, non-governmental organisations, academic institutions and other key stakeholders.
The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) sub-regional co-ordinator for the Pacific Islands, Sakiusa Tubuna said: "The SAAS project is all about making the relevant changes to current extension services so that they can effectively contribute to the transmission of knowledge and technology to farmers."
Mr. Tubuna said Government's 2020 agriculture agenda regarded agricultural extension services to be a catalyst for the growth of agriculture in rural areas.
He said the agenda also aimed to improve the delivery of support services and regards extension services as a contributor to the enhancement of agricultural research and training.
The SAAS project is a joint partnership between IFAD, SPC, the Pacific Islands Rural Advisory Services, the Global Forum for Rural Advisory Services, the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture College and the Ministry of Agriculture.
A statement from the Department of Information said among the issues discussed included:
- identifying policy gaps for extension services and opportunities to address those gaps;
- identifying capacity building needs for both farmer groups and extension service providers;
- identifying opportunities to support extension services;
- the establishment of a Fiji Extension and Advisory Services Country Forum; and
- identifying good practices in Fiji Extension Services that can inspire future work.
The workshop to discuss the strengthening of smallholder farmers in Fiji was held at the Southern Cross Hotel in Suva.