Clerical officers in the agriculture departments in Vanuatu’s six provinces have been familiarizing themselves with a new Agriculture Permit System.
The permit system relates to the Agriculture Legislation and Agriculture Regulation under the Agriculture Act that was passed in Parliament in 2018.
The Director for the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, Antoine Ravo, said the Agriculture Act is new.
“There is a need to develop Agriculture Regulations and these regulations are already in their final draft.”
“This workshop will focus on piloting the permit systems for agriculture mainly the different forms as to how the forms will be used and its process.
“Another important area is the Agriculture Minimum Standards. The Clerical Officers need to understand how the forms under the permit systems and the minimum standards are linked,” Ravo said.
He added that the DARD 2021 Business Plan highlights the need to trial the new agriculture permit system this year with a few crops such as Tahitian Lime, cocoa, coffee and kava.
“There will be lessons learnt and we will adjust and improve as we go along and add more crops and see how effective and efficient it is in assisting us in our work.”
Photo supplied