(disponible en anglais uniquement)
Strengthening Atoll Agriculture in Tuvalu
Newly developed special compost recipes are set to make a positive impact on agriculture for Funafala and Funafuti in Tuvalu. The newly developed recipes use biomass which is readily available in Tuvalu, to create composts that meet the nutritional requirements of local vegetable crops.
The training, which was conducted by The Pacific Community’s (SPC) Land Resources Division (LRD), Australian Centre of International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) and Biofilta Australia, brought together 7 agriculture officers from the Tuvalu Department of Agriculture, 2 officers from Live and Learn – Tuvalu and four households from the Funafala community. The activity was conducted under the ACIAR improving, soil health, agricultural productivity and food security on atolls project.
In addition to the SPC facilitated training, Biofilta Australia team also provided a detailed hands on training to the Tuvalu Agriculture Officers on the assembly and set up of the food cubes.
SPC as the commissioned implementing agency for the ACIAR project, will be wrapping up project activities over the next few months. One of priorities over this time is to identify opportunities to support scale out of project lessons. The mission involved training of Tuvalu Agriculture Officers on the SPC Participatory and Vulnerability Assessment framework to establish lessons learned and specific areas for future support.
Mr. Gibson Susumu, SPC/LRD Programme Leader for Sustainable Agriculture, highlighted the significance of the biomass recipes noting, “the development of targeted compost recipes to tackle the soil constraints facing atoll farming systems increases the resilience and sustainability of food on the atoll.”
The compost recipes developed under the ACIAR project complement the food cubes supplied by Biofilta Australia through the new Tuvalu food futures project funded by Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT).
With the new DFAT funded Tuvalu food futures project, SPC in collaboration with ACIAR, DT Global, Biofilta Australia and the Government of Tuvalu will be promoting the compost recipes, the food cubes and other tested atoll agriculture technologies to scale out to other communities in Tuvalu and regionally.
Media contacts:
Elenoa Salele, Animal Health and Production Technician, Land Resources Division, Pacific Community | Email: [email protected] or Tel: +679 3370733 ext. 35347
Sunayna Nandini, Communications Officer | Pacific Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research | Email: [email protected] or Tel: (679) 3379392| Website: aciar.gov.au
