Vanuatu

This is part of the preparations for the Sanma Key Farmers Mini Agriculture show that will be held on June 13 and 14 in Luganville Santo.

The fishpond has been completed and tilapia fishes are already in the pond. A chicken house was built on top of the fishpond, now awaiting shipment of broilers from the Department of Livestock in Port Vila.

Mr Kalnpel said vegetable seedlings were also sown and will be transplanted to plots shortly.

“Different varieties of vegetable seeds include Chinese cabbage, round cabbages, carrots, tomatoes, lettuce and capsicum.

 The opposition said that ship was not seaworthy at the time.

Opposition leader Ishmael Kalsakau is calling for the minister, Simeon Seule, to be reprimanded.

Mr Seule told the Daily Post the ship does have deficiencies, but the maritime office has allowed it to be used commercially until repairs are carried out.

He said it was already booked into the slipway at Luganville for repairs to be done in May.

The Pacific ICT Awards aim at recognising and promoting outstanding ICT solutions and applications to encourage innovation and excellence among Pacific's ICT talents and organizations. Pacific ICT Awards' purpose is to inspire individuals and organizations in constantly searching for creative and better solutions to meet business and social needs. 

With growing demand for Vanuatu cocoa internationally, the Department is in the process of developing a National Cocoa Strategy to strengthen and address issues and challenges confronting the cocoa sector.

In his opening address, DARD Acting Principal South, Peter Iesul called on cocoa farmers to focus on three areas required to boost the cocoa sector – “quality, quantity and consistency.”

Their mission is to raise awareness on marine plastic pollution.

They are also here to offer land-based solutions to tackle the threat of plastics entering the ocean.

On Monday 8 April the team will also organize a “From plastic waste to energy” workshop with local communities in Efate.

The vessel will depart for Solomon Islands on Sunday 14 April.

The members of South West Bay Farmers Association (SWBFA) will collect information about the number of plants grown by their members from Lembinwen to South Coast on Malekula.

The main purpose of this kava data collection is to find out the total number of kava production in South West Bay.

Production data for kava is one of the activities resolved during the SWBFAs’ first meeting that took place in Lorlow village last week.

It was a first meeting to develop plans for 2019 that will be implemented by farmers in South West Bay.

The kava cuttings of the ‘Kelai’ kava noble variety (nodes) will be delivered to kava farmers in the six farming communities.

Member of Parliament for Tafea Outer islands, Tomker Netvunei, who is originally from the island chartered the planes to deliver the kava cuttings.

The first chartered flight two weeks ago was loaded with 11 bags of kelai kava cuttings and the second chartered flight last weekend loaded 17 bags of kelai kava cuttings.

The cuttings were purchased from Sakapnoe Kava Farmers Association.

The Australia Awards alumni network includes some of Vanuatu’s brightest leaders from across the government, private sector and civil society.

The network meets regularly to promote connections between alumni members and further develop their skills.

The Aid Management Policy and Policy Implementation Strategy is the first of a kind for the government of Vanuatu and it is based on the international framework principles of effective development cooperation.

These include the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness (2005), the Accra Agenda for Action (2008), and the Busan Global Partnership for Effective Development (2011).

PM Salwai said that the policy document is also a respond to the Pacific Island Forum Compact for Effective Development Cooperation (2009).

A team comprising of Vanuatu Agriculture Research and Technical Centre (VARTC) in collaboration with the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (DARD) is touring identified research sites throughout the six provinces of Vanuatu to collect the different species of banana and their genetic characteristics.

The main purpose of the banana research is to recollect, revive and re-establish a Vanuatu banana collection at VARTC on Santo.