About FACT
Facilitating Agricultural Commodity Trade in Pacific
Introduction:
The Facilitating Agricultural Commodity Trade (FACT) Project is
an EU funded programme that operates within the Land Resources
Division of the Secretariat of the Pacific Community. FACT aims
to assist selected commercial ventures and producer groups to
become export-oriented and market driven enterprises that
consistently supply overseas markets with competitive products.
Objective:
The overall objective is to promote and increase trade in
agricultural and forestry products from Pacific ACP countries.
FACT complements efforts aimed at enhancing regional cooperation
and integration: this includes the policy commitment of European
Union in the Cotonou Agreement in facilitating the integration
of the Pacific ACP into the regional and global economies.
Further it also promotes sustainable increase in quality and
range of exports of agriculture and forestry products within and
out of the Pacific Region.
The purpose of FACT is to: “Sustainably increase quality and
range of exports of agricultural and forestry (agfor) products.”
Where?
FACT activities will be undertaken within the 14 Pacific ACP
countries, viz. Cook Islands, Fiji, Federated States of
Micronesia, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Niue, Palau,
Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and
Vanuatu.
How will it be done?
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By Increasing competitiveness of
potential exports by addressing and upgrading substandard
components of the supply chain including through:
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Detailed systems analysis of business to
identify any vulnerable and weak areas of the current supply
chain, or areas for potential new development,
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Advice on sustainable production
techniques; certification; pest and disease management;
meeting necessary quarantine, food safety and quality
standards,
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Training of operators (producers,
carriers, processors), Necessary post-harvest processing
equipment and storage facilities,
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Assessment of the potential for new
product development,
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Evaluation and supply of germplasm of new
species and varieties, and
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Marketing skills such as pricing,
promotion, distribution and negotiating.
Background:
The FACT project aims to increase competiveness of potential
exports by addressing, and where necessary, upgrading
substandard components of the supply chain of selected products.
To achieve this FACT will adopt following approach:
In the short term – provide technical support and training to
already experienced producers and exporters in the commercial
farming and forestry sectors to produce an increased range of
more competitive export products.
In the long term – work with stakeholders to address
institutional (including access to credit) constraints to trade
and disseminate information on best practice production systems
to farming communities and resource owners.
FACT will initially focus on selected representative export
products and growers who already have reasonable skills and
experience in commercial production and marketing and exporting.
The case studies generated will be used by SPC and others to
disseminate information to the wider community and encourage the
adoption of best practise techniques by additional producers and
exporters.
For more information, please contact: Dr. Lex Thomson,
Project Team Leader – lext@spc.int; or Vinesh Prasad, ICT
Technician – vineshp@spc.int.
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