Vanuatu's Food Security and Agriculture Cluster has deployed over 60 officers to SANMA, PENAMA and MALAMPA provinces to conduct detailed assessment on loss and damage caused by TC Harold.
Six teams have been sent to Ambrym, Pentecost, Santo and Ambae.
A team was already deployed last week to Malekula.
The officers will work with volunteers and other partners on the ground.
While immediate response of food supplies is currently underway in affected areas, officers were deployed purposely to access detailed information on loss and damage done on agriculture, livestock, pests and diseases encountered, forestry and fisheries.
In the agriculture sector, information will be collected from commercial, semi commercial and subsistence farmers and a focus on the quantity of crops grown, what type of crops, crops damaged, area of land in hectares, quantity of crops that could regrow and what the farmers can do to solve the problems.
In the livestock sector, farmers will be interviewed on how they are raising their animals such as in fences, without fencing or with the use of ropes. Other areas include what type of animals affected during TC Harold, total number of animals per farmer, number of dead and missing animals.
In the forestry sector, affected forestry farmers will need to provide information on the type of woodlot, number of trees and species type damaged and what tree type farmers need to replace their woodlot.
In addition to data collection, the fisheries sector will capture information on fishing grounds, fishing equipment, cold storage facilities, fishing gears damaged, aqua-culture, ecological survey capturing conservation areas, habitat, resources and other relevant information.
It is vital for farmers to also report any common pest and disease they discover in their gardens before TC Harold, any new pests noticed after TC Harold and what type of crop has been affected and its symptoms and control methods used to control the pests and diseases.
The detailed information and data collected will form the basis of the recovery phase of FSAC response to affected communities.
Photo supplied Caption: FSAC- EOC Controller, Mark Vurobaravu, (Third left) with Pentecost Team at the airport prior to departure