BACKGROUND

Clear, evidence based national agriculture policies are critical to ensure that there is a coherent plan for Government, farmers, private sector and other stakeholders to sustain rural livelihoods, secure food security and collectively grow the agricultural sector and its contribution to national development.

Tonga’s Ministry of Agriculture, Food, Fisheries and Forestry (MAFFF) has recently completed the first Tonga Agriculture Sector Plan (TASP) 2016-2020. This has been an impressive achievement – a process of several years of hard work, consultations, review and planning. The TASP presents the vision and priorities of the sector to contribute to Tonga’s economic growth and sustained food security in light of changing world economic factors, and climate change. The TASP informs policy dialogue amongst a range of stakeholders from both the public and private sectors.

The event on the evening of Friday 22 July will serve as an official launch for the new Tonga Agriculture Sector Plan, which has been developed with support from the World Bank, IFAD and UNDP. To complement the efforts of these development partners, PAPP is supporting publication and awareness for the TASP through a Financing Agreement in place with MAFFF.
This event will officially launch the TASP to sector stakeholders, and will also include a showcase of the new Tonga Agriculture Policy Bank.

The launch complements a series of five events that are planned for the week 18-22 July 2016:

• Mon 18 - Tue 19 July: Awareness Workshop on Agricultural Policy, Research and
  Extension
• Wed 20 July: Agriculture and Fisheries Donor Roundtable, including presentation of the
  new Tonga Agriculture Sector Plan (TASP) and Tonga Fisheries Sector Plan (TFSP)
• Thur 21 July: Agriculture Session during the Government of Tonga Development
  Partners’ Forum
• Fri 22 July (morning): Handover of climate resilient crop varieties by SPC’s Centre for
  Pacific Crops and Trees (CePaCT)

Click here for Event details/documents: http://pafpnet.spc.int/our-events/icalrepeat.detail/2016/07/18/19/-/agricultural-policy-research-and-extension-awareness-workshop