Vanuatu’s Agriculture Minister Matai Seremaiah says Vanuatu aims to deal with food security and import substitution with new agriculture initiatives.
Vanuatu has taken a step forward by encouraging farmers around the country to produce potatoes, onion, carrots and other new crops.
Traditional crops grown are yams, taro, sweet potatoes and bananas.
The Vanuatu Agriculture Sector Policy says the government is conscious of the potential role that the agriculture sector has in providing leverage for the sustained development of the tourism industry, manufacturing industry and the social and economic and ecological well-being of Vanuatu as a whole.
“Tourism is increasing rapidly in Vanuatu and we need to increase the production and feed the tourists in a sustainable way,” said Minister Seremaiah.
The ministry through the Department of Agriculture has procured potato and onion seeds for farmers in Vanuatu.
“The ministry has provided help to the people of Vanuatu through mechanization availability, seeds, technical assistance, trade facilitation (farm to market) and continues to look into other ways to help the farmers,” added Mr Seremaiah.
He also confirmed that the ministry is concentrating the projects on some islands first to get best results.
“We will be concentrating on some islands for example potato, onion and carrot on Tanna and onion on Epi and Paama,” Mr Seremaiah said.
Stakeholders in Vanuatu are also working at promoting organic farming and the Ministry of Agriculture is helping the farmers develop an organic farming policy.
“We are moving forward with our organic policy and for a small country like Vanuatu, whom we are naturally organic yet, it is very important that we protect our organic status.”
“But also with limited land area, which means we cannot compete in volume of production but in value,” explained Mr Seremaiah.
He said he is confident that Vanuatu is in a position to achieve a full organic status in future as it is their objective right now.
He also explained that climate change and lack of access to finance are the greatest challenges that the ministry currently deals with.
“While tackling climate change and access to finance we are also working with the challenge of small to semi-commercial farmers thus there is a need for coordination,” said Seremaiah.
Vanuatu is an agriculture based economy in which 80% of the population depends entirely on subsistence agriculture for their daily sustenance and well-being.
Although the other 20% reside in the urban areas, most would still rely on agricultural products from market centres for their daily source of nutrients.
Vanuatu exports copra, coconut oil, cocoa and beef.
Photo: Facebook (DARD Officer Isaac Iaruel with the onion farmer during harvest of his onions in 2016)