role of farmer organisations in climate change … of... · horticultural crops and spices ... pi...

ROLE OF FARMER

ORGANISATIONS IN

CLIMATE CHANGE

ADAPTATION

Kyle Stice - Manager

What is a farmer organisation?

The Role of Farmer Organisations in Climate Change Adaptation

PIFON Definition

A group of farmers

A group working for the

benefit of farmers

Who is PIFON?

Pacific Island Farmer Organisation Network

A membership based network of farmer organisations across 8 countries in the Pacific Region


Where are we???


PIFON’s Reach


Active in 7 countries – Fiji, Vanuatu, Solomon

Islands, Tonga, Samoa, PNG and Timor Leste

Membership of 24 national farmer organisations

Linkages with approximately 350 local farmer

organisations with a total membership of 25,000

farmers

The role of PIFON for 2014-2016 will be to serve as an umbrella organisation for national FOs to:

coordinate capacity building

share success stories and the lessons learnt

support regional exchanges of expertise between FOs and their associated private sector and donor agency partners.

PIFON Strategic Plan (2014-2016)


Ongoing PIFON Projects

2014-2018

USD – 922,000

2014-2016

FJD – 400,000


What do we know

about the likely impacts

of climate change on

agriculture in the

Pacific?

The first comprehensive study on the impact of

climate change on agriculture in the Pacific

Topics covered:

Observed and projected changes in the climate of the Pacific Islands

Vulnerability of Pacific island agriculture and forestry to climate change

Traditional food staples

Export commodities

Horticultural crops and spices

Livestock

Implications of climate change on contributions by agriculture to Pacific economies and communities

Adapting Pacific agriculture and forestry to climate change - recommendations

KEY OVERALL MESSAGES FROM BOOK


Severity of impact from CC will increase over time

Extreme weather events will have most impact

Significant threat posed by CC impact on global staples

(grains) -therefore reliance on imported food threatens

food security

PI staple food crops are likely to be more resilient

Strengthening production and processing of these

staples will be a key element of adaptation efforts

KEY OVERALL MESSAGES FROM BOOK

Agriculture has to be climate, environmentally

and economically ‘smart’ now and for the

future – there is no other option for sustainable

livelihoods in the Pacific

Conclusions for farmer organisations…

Climate change will likely impact agriculture by amplifying pressure of existing threats, particularly climate extremes in undefinable ways.

The problem with current approaches is they tend to ignore current threats and focus on ill-defined climate change issues per se.

By enabling farmers to adapt to climate extremes in the short and medium term, future generations of farmers will be better placed to adapt to climate change

The pragmatic approach is to improve our capacity to address existing threats while continuing to address knowledge gaps and identify future threats.


What is the comparative

advantage of farmer

organisations of farmer

organisations in agricultural

research and extension?

FOs and Agricultural Research


Related to agricultural research, the policy

brief concludes that “a partnership

between agriculture ministries, relevant

public sector organisations and farmer

organisations will increase the depth and

quality of agricultural research as well as

see more comprehensive and widespread

adoptions of the results”.

FOs and Agricultural Extension


Related to agricultural extension, the

policy brief stresses that “farmer

organisations can effectively and

efficiently complement the work of

government and aid agencies by

extending the outreach of support to

farmers”.


Examples of farmer

organisation

involvement in

successful climate

change adaptation

Case study – Nature’s Way Cooperative

The effects of climate extremes on

NWC fruit exports


NWC response to climate extremes

How and Who?

Industry led approach (Natures Way

Cooperative) bringing together

stakeholders (MoA, exporters, farmers,

SPC etc.)

Meet on a quarterly basis to discuss and

prioritise work activities and identify who

will do what. The Role of Farmer Organisations in Climate Change Adaptation

Industry response to climate extremes

What we can do now – immediate response to the situation

1. Spreading the production area outside the Sigatoka Valley.

2. The calculation of natural disasters into papaya crop

budgets (better planning).

3. Reducing the scale of planting (smaller blocks) and

increasing the frequency of planting (plant more often).

4. Fiji Papaya Seed production scheme

Selection of ‘seed trees’ based on performance under

local conditions

Bulking of seed stocks to quickly recover from natural

disasters


Industry response to climate extremes

Exploring the knowledge gap

5. Research into pre and post-cyclone farm activities.

Defoliation

Ratooning

Sunburn protection


Case Study – PIFON PBSP


Pacific Breadfruit and Seeds Programme


PIFON identifies enhancing domestic food production utilising FOs as a key policy response to addressing the dual challenges of CC and Food Security

The PBSP is a farmer led initiative to operationalise this policy response

Pacific Breadfruit and Seeds Programme


Currently working in 4 countries

supporting national activities

and regional exchanges.

Seeking resources to scale up

the PBSP

Improving access to seed for Pacific

Island Farmers

Pacific Briefing to MTCP II RSC - 2016

Regional scoping study and project

design related to: “Utilizing farmer

organisations to improve the access to

high quality seed for Pacific island

farmers ”


Island Farmers

Learning exchange in Taiwan with FOs,

NGOs, universities and commercial

seed producers on open-pollinated

and hybrid seed production.


Island Farmers

Technical assistance in upgrading of seed production,

processing and storage


Island Farmers

New seed packaging sourced from China supplied to

NWC (Fiji), FSA (Vanuatu) and KGA (Solomons) to

extend viability.


Island Farmers


PIFON Open Pollinated Seed Production

Learning Exchange (October 2016)

Part 1: Solomon Islands Open Pollinated

Seed Learning Event

Part 2: Australia learning exchange on

Open Pollinated Seed Production

The development of breadfruit as an orchard

crop for processing and fresh export


Tonga - Fiji Breadfruit

Learning Exchange August 3rd – August 5th 2016


http://globalbreadfruitsummit.com

http://globalbreadfruitsummit.com/

Conclusion


Farmer organisations are critical

partners to help extend the reach

of government and aid agencies

to support Pacific Island farmers

to adapt to climate change.

www.pacificfarmers.com

Pacific Briefing to MTCP II RSC - 2016

role of farmer organisations in climate change … of... · horticultural crops and spices ... pi...

Documents