Port Vila, Vanuatu - In a first for Vanuatu, a new online agriculture policy bank is being launched in Port Vila today to give farmers easy access to a library of summarised key policy documents in English, French and Bislama.

The Vanuatu Agriculture Policy Bank is being launched during the Vanuatu National Agricultural Policy Awareness and Implementation Workshop in Port Vila, which is providing national stakeholders with an overview of the country’s new Agriculture Sector Policy 2015-2030.

The policy bank and workshop are a collaborative effort between Vanuatu’s Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries, Forestry and Biosecurity, and the European Union's Pacific Agriculture Policy Project (PAPP), implemented by the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC).

The policy bank has been developed through PAPP and is hosted on SPC’s Pacific Agriculture and Forestry Policy Network (www.spc.int/pafpnet) portal.

 

“Agricultural policies are key to setting priorities and plans for the sector, and farmers and stakeholders need to be able to access these documents and know what’s contained in them,” the SPC Adviser and Team Leader for PAPP, Vili Caniogo, said.

“This new policy bank will help farmers and other key stakeholders to engage in policy development and share this onus of addressing, whetherlocally, nationally or regionally, the challenges and opportunities of this important sector, Mr Caniogo said.

Similar policy banks are planned for other Pacific countries in the next six to 12 months.

The policy bank will be supported with outreach to rural stakeholders using cross-media platforms such as rural radio, television and print programs, to reach farmers and others who do not have reliable internet access.

Other partners contributing to the workshop include the Intra-ACP Agricultural Policy Programme, supported by the European Union and the ACP group of States, under the Intra-ACP cooperation and the ACP-EU Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA) that coordinates inter-regional exchanges between Pacific and Caribbean countries.

On 15 September the first provincial launch and awareness campaign for the Vanuatu Agriculture Sector Policy 2015-2030 for Penama Province, will take place in Saratamata, Ambae island.

This event will be held in conjunction with Government’s handover of a shipment of cattle to Penama and dedication ceremony to welcome its new Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries, Forestry and Biosecurity vehicle, all during the week of Penama Day celebrations.

For more information visit SPC’s Pacific Agriculture and Forestry Policy Network (PAFPNet) portal: www.spc.int/pafpnet

Media contacts:

Ms Anju Mangal - Knowledge Management Specialist, Pacific Agriculture Policy Project (PAPP), SPC - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. (Vanuatu 563 0923)

Mr Vili Caniogo – Team Leader, Pacific Agriculture Policy Project (PAPP), SPC This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Ms Cheryl Thomas – Policy Research Officer, Pacific Agriculture Policy Project (PAPP), SPC This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

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