This quarterly Digest reports the landmark efforts by Pacific countries to make agricultural information available through “Agricultural Policy Banks” to the public. Up to now, it has been difficult for stakeholders including the media to easily obtain sector information such as plans, policies or commodity information.  Through PAPP, Vanuatu and Solomon Islands launched new Policy Banks, essentially online libraries of national agricultural information. All other Pacific countries in which PAPP operates, also have similar electronic libraries available through the PAPP hosted Pacific Agriculture, Forestry and Policy Network (PAFPnet) policy bank portal. www.spc.int/pafpnet/policy-bank

PAPP continues to support the capacity of national farmer organisations. The latest collaboration with Papua New Guinea Women in Agriculture Development Foundation (PNG WiADF) and PIFON was aimed at promoting food security and promoting the knowledge sharing capacity of an important women’s representative body that has over 2000 members.  We are happy to share the article and video below with you illustrating the importance of national farmer organisations in building capacity and knowledge sharing for a large number of farmers.

We all know the difficulties of accessing reliable and relevant agriculture statistics in the Pacific that pose a major challenge for effective decision making and policy setting. PAPP is working in partnership with the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) to formulate a strategic plan for agriculture and fisheries statistics. This plan will be a first for the region and will help pave the way for more timely and quality data.  Details of a planning workshop held in October are highlighted in this issue.

Building on our work to date on Agritourism, the Project has compiled publications such as “How to Run Farmer-Hotel Buyers Exchanges” – a consolidation of significant farmer-hotel events that were held in Tonga, Samoa and Fiji over the last three quarters.  These Agritourism events intended to highlight a policy focus on the opportunities that domestic markets presented for farmers. Already there is interest from Vanuatu, Cook Islands and Fiji to build on these synergies. You will find these reports here: http://goo.gl/60HfMx

We hope you will enjoy reading these stories and welcome your feedback through the Pacific Agriculture Forestry and Policy Network (PAFPNet) where you are encouraged to have your say in our quarterly discussions (see links further down in this email).   Don't forget to subscribe to receive upcoming editions of this e-newsletter and to see what is coming up for PAPP. A print version of this newsletter is scheduled for publication.

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