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On 12 May 2016, H.E. Huang Huaguang, Chinese Ambassador in Tonga and Hon. Semisi Fakahau, Minister for Agriculture, Food, Forestry and Fisheries of Tonga (MAFFF) jointly initialed the Protocol for Tongan squash to be exported to China at the MAFFF headquarter. In the past months, Chinese Embassy in Tonga has been working closely with Tongan Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, MAFFF and the Chinese General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) on the market access of Tongan squash to China. With the joint efforts from all sides, it’s quite promising that Tongan squash could reach Chinese market later this year, which would be a landmark for China-Tonga cooperation in agricultural sector and would bring benefits to the local farmers and companies. In order to ensure the smooth of the process, a group of experts from AQSIQ visited Tonga last October, had good discussions with their Tongan counterparts and visited the plantation areas and packing facilities.
Download Report: 2015 TONGA NATIONAL AGRICULTURAL CENSUS MAIN REPORT
Fourteen years have passed since the 2001 Agriculture Census was conducted. In view of the significant changes that have happened in the agriculture sector, the 2001 Agriculture Census data is now considered to be out-of-date. For this reason the Ministry of Agriculture, Food, Forests and Fisheries (MAFFF) initiated the 2015 Tonga National Agriculture Census (TNAC). This census will ensure that MAFF’s development programs and policies are based on up-to-date and accurate agriculture statistics. The Government of Tonga and MAFFF, in particular, is proud to be one of the first governments in the Pacific to implement its third agriculture census. The implementation of this census would not have been possible without the generous technical and financial support of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations under its Technical Co-operation Programme (TCP/TON/3403). This project was jointly implemented by MAFFF and the Tonga Statistics Department (TSD) with the main objective of providing up-to-date and accurate data on the structure of agriculture in Tonga for the formulation, appraisal and implementation of agriculture development programmes and policy in Tonga.
The Hon Minister of MAFFF, Hon Semisi Fakahau will be attending the “8th Summit of ACP Heads of State and Government” to be held from Monday the 30th of May to Wednesday the 1st of June 2016. The summit will be hosted by Papua New Guinea.
As host nation, Papua New Guinea have developed priority areas/sectors for the 8th Heads of ACP Government and States Summit under the theme “ Repositioning the ACP-Group to the Challenges of the Sustainable Development”.
These priorities include:
(This from perspective of the Pacific Island Countries includes Climate Change. PNG has contributed by adding Small and Medium Enterprises(SME) to these existing priorities which now makes it five priorities in total.
For more information visit The ACP Group Website
At a recent workshop in Suva, organised by the European Union-supported Pacific Agriculture Policy Project and the Pacific Community (SPC), countries heard how Agriculture Policy Banks are already delivering significant benefits.Vanuatu and Solomon Islands, who were among the first countries to trial and launch these Banks in the past six months, recounted that these Banks enabled them to communicate and transmit agriculture policy documents easily to other government departments, businesses, farmers and development partners.
Mark Vurobaravu, who manages the Policy Bank at the Vanuatu Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock, stated that “this Bank has already made our work easier engaging with stakeholders and has freed-up time enabling us to start translating our documents also to Bislama and French. All documents are in the Bank and available to everyone.”
Representatives from 10 Pacific countries, including farmer organisations, regional development partners and private sector organisations, gathered recently at SPC to help build Agriculture Policy Banks for their countries and to discuss and design mechanisms for stronger regional information exchange and national outreach.
Opening the workshop, Dr Audrey Aumua, Deputy Director General of SPC stated, “it was very positive to note that the important agriculture sector was leveraging on information and communication technology and knowledge management to help develop the important agricultural sector.”
“Repositories of policy information or Policy Banks for 15 ACP countries, including Timor-Leste, are now available online, meaning anyone from anywhere can access these documents,” Dr Aumua said.
The week culminated in a showcase of the new Policy Banks to various development partners, private sector representatives and Suva-based diplomatic missions.
Pacific countries will now focus on a number of agreed actions to further build the momentum of these knowledge management initiatives. These included the design of national outreach plans and initiatives to promote regional complementary work.
It is intended that this work will be presented to the SPC and United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) Ministers of Agriculture meeting scheduled during the first-ever Pacific Week of Agriculture, to be held in Vanuatu in May 2017.
The Deputy Chief of Mission for the Federated States of Micronesia, Wilson F. Waguk, and H.E. Roving Ambassador Corporate Matai Kaukilakeba from the Fiji Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation were also present at the showcase.
The Deputy Head of Mission of the French Embassy to Fiji, Jules Irrmann, who officiated at the showcase, stated that such portals encourage complementary efforts and the need for countries to work together to promote the agriculture sector.
“Agriculture is a very important topic here. With the e-agriculture policy bank, I was very impressed with what I’ve seen so far. Each time you want to make a policy you can check what the other countries are doing,” Mr Irrmann stated.
“It is very important for the farmers to have direct access to those documents. Instead of taking hours to go to ministries and get the results – now they can receive them on their mobile phone,” he added.SPC’s Agricultural Policy Adviser, Vili Caniogo, who is helping lead this work at SPC, stated that the Policy Banks not only provide easy public access to a range of information, but are a vital tool enabling further complementary work among regions.
He stated that countries and development partners had talked about collaboration in the sector for a long time but often were hampered by the lack of a tool or a medium to facilitate this. He noted that a key aim of the Policy Banks was to provide a simple tool to facilitate this.
This work is funded by the European Union Pacific Agriculture Policy Project, the Pacific component of the Intra-ACP Agricultural Policy Program (APP), which targets the Pacific and Caribbean regions. The Netherlands-based Centre for Technical Cooperation for Agriculture (CTA) is a project partner.
The European Union is supporting Pacific countries through the Pacific Community (SPC) to better organise agricultural policy and planning information by making information widely accessible to all stakeholders.
The Agriculture Policy Banks can be accessed via the PAFPnet website: www.spc.int/pafpnet
ENDS
Media contact: Ms Salome Tukuafu – Information and Communications Management Officer, SPC Pacific Agriculture Policy Project (PAPP), SalomeT@spc.int
Technical contacts: Ms Anju Mangal – Knowledge Management Specialist, SPC Pacific Agriculture Policy Project (PAPP), Anjum@spc.int
Premier conseiller / Deputy Head of Mission/Ambassade de France en République des Fidji officiated the event of the Regional Agriculture Policy Banks. H.E/Roving Ambassador Coporate Matai Kaukilakeba from Ministry of Foreign Affairs Fiji and the the FSM Deputy Chief of Mission, Mr Wilson F. Waguk from Embassy of the Federated States of Micronesia were part of the event. 10 Pacific Island countries participated including private sector, farmer organisation and regional organisation. The showcase of the Pacific Regional Agriculture Policy Banks — the complete e-repository of the Agriculture Policies, plans and agriculture documents can be accessed via PAFPNet – www.spc.int/pafpnet
A new Australian Government project, which aims to support expanded fruit production in Samoa, Tonga and Fiji, held its first meeting on Monday 13th June 2016 at the Scientific Research Organisation of Samoa (SROS).
Highlighting increasing horticultural regional collaboration, this workshop was attended by senior representatives from Ministry of Agriculture, Food, Forests and Fisheries of Tonga (Losaline Ma’asi), the Fiji Ministry of Agriculture (Shalendra Prasad), Pacific Community (SPC) (Dr. Siosiua Halavatau), UN-FAO (Tim Martyn), the University of the Sunshine Coast and The University of Queensland (Professor Steven Underhill), and SROS (Tilafono David Hunter and Tuimaseve Kuinimeri Finau-Asora).
According to Professor Underhill, “Fruit production in the Pacific represents less than 10% of the overall horticultural output, despite favourable climates, increasing market opportunities, and important human health benefits. While there is a lot of research to be undertaken, we recognise the critical importance of the Samoa Government and our partners at the Fiji Ministry of Agriculture and the Tonga Ministry of Agriculture. This workshop agreed to a series of important steps to better support Pacific fruit farmers, with SROS taking on a leadership role in developing and testing new postharvest technologies to better support emerging sea-freight export opportunities in Samoa”.
This new ACIAR-funded project will support the development of resilient tropical fruit value chains in Fiji, Samoa, and Tonga; based on the five regionally significant fruit crops: papaya, pineapple, mango, breadfruit, and citrus.
“While SROS will lead the development of new postharvest horticultural technologies, we anticipate a strong partnership with our Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, especially around targeted training and capacity building of local extension officers, and primary production activities on pineapples and papaya” said Tilafono David Hunter, Chief Executive Officer of SROS.
During the workshop, attendees were briefed on proposed research to increase production and postharvest efficiency of pineapple in Samoa, Fiji and Tonga; research to improve domestic mango production in Fiji, and effort to re-build the Tonga domestic citrus industry. The workshop attendees were also advised on potentially groundbreaking research that seeks to develop low-grow breadfruit trees that could be more cyclone tolerant and easier to harvest.
Importantly, this initiative has been designed to further support parallel postharvest horticultural research currently funded by FAO that aims to reduce food loss in Samoa and improve farmer profitability.
Agricultural Policy, Research and Extension – Awareness Workshop, Tonga
Concept Note – Tonga Launch_FINAL
Time: 6-8pm
Date: Friday 22 July 2016
Venue: Davina House Conference Centre, Nuku’alofa, Tonga.
The event on the evening of Friday 22 July will serve as an official launch for the new Tonga Agriculture Sector Plan, which has been developed with support from the World Bank, IFAD and UNDP. To complement the efforts of these development partners, PAPP is supporting publication and awareness for the TASP through a Financing Agreement in place with MAFFF.
This event will officially launch the TASP to sector stakeholders, and will also include a showcase of the new Tonga Agriculture Policy Bank. A tentative agenda for the event is:
Tonga Policy Bank launched The launch complements a series of five events that are planned for the week 18-22 July 2016:
TAPU MO E HAU E FONUA, TUPOU VI, MO E TA’AHINE KUINI, NANASIPAU’U, TAPU MO E KUINI FEHUHU, HALAEVALU MATA’AHO, MO E FALE ‘O HA’A MOHEOFO, TAPU MO E HOU’EIKI NOPELE, TAPU KI HE ‘EIKI PALEMIA MO E KAU MINISITA ‘O E KAPINETI, TAPU KI HE KAU TAKI LOTU KOTOA PE PEA TAPU KI HE KAU PULE FAKAVAHE MO E KAU ‘OFISA KOLO KOTOA ‘O E VAHEFONUA TONGATAPU, MO E KAKAI KOTOA ‘O E VAHEFONUA TONGATAPU.
TUKU MU’A KE FAKAHOKO ATU ‘A E FANONGONONGO MAHU’INGA NI KE A’U ATU KI HE LOTO FALE KOTOA PE ’I TONGATAPU NI. KOE’UHI KO E ‘ALOTAMAKI MO E SOPUSOPU ‘A NATULA, KUO TALI LELEI AI ‘E HE ‘EIKI PALEMIA PEA MO E KAPINETI PEA FINANGALO LELEI KI AI ‘A E HAU ‘O E FONUA KE TOLOI ‘A E ‘AHO FAKA’ALI’ALI NGOUE, TOUTAI MO E NGAAHI NGAUE’ANGA MEI HE ‘AHO FALAITE MO E TOKONAKI ‘O E UIKE NI, ‘AHO 12 MO E 13 ‘O ‘AKOSI, 2016 KE TOKI FAKAHOKO KI HE ‘AHO FALAITE PE MO E TOKONAKI ‘O E UIKE KAHA’U, ‘A IA KO E ‘AHO 19 MO E 20 ‘AKOSI, 2016 ‘I HE FEITU’U TATAU PE ‘O HANGE KO IA KUO ‘OSI FAI E TEUTEU KI AI.
‘OKU TAU FAKAFETA’I KOE’UHI KO E TOKA’I KUO FAI MEI FALE LAHI, TAUTAUTEFITO KI HE NGAAHI KOLOA ‘A E KAKAI FEFINE, KE TOE MATOLO KO ENI ‘A E ‘AHO FAKA’ALI’ALI NGOUE, TOUTAI MO E NGAAHI NGAUE’ANGA KI HE UIKE KAHA’U, MAKATU’UNGA ‘I HE ‘ALOTAMAKI ‘UHA KUO TOFANGA AI ‘A E VAHEFONUA TONGATAPU.
‘OKU MAU KOLE FAKAMOLEMOLE ATU KI HA TŌ NOUNOU PE KO HA FEHĀLAAKI KUO HOKO TUPU MEI HE TOE TOLOI KO ENI KUO HOKO, KA ‘OKU PULE PE ‘A NATULA MO HONO NAUNAU. KO IA, TAU HANGA TAHA PE KI HE FALAITE MO E TOKONAKI ‘O E UIKE KAHA’U ‘I HE FEITU’U TATAU MO E TAIMI TATAU PE. KI HA TOE NGAAHI FAKA’EKE’EKE, KATAKI KA KE FETU’UTAKI MAI KI HE NGAHI FIKA KO ENI:
23-038, 23-261, 23-198
FAKA’APA’APA ATU POTUNGAUE NGOUE, ME’ATOKONI, VAO’AKAU MO E TOUTAI
Dr Viliami Toalei Manu appointed as new CEO for the Ministry of Agriculture Food and Forests effective from November 2016.
Dr Manu holds a Doctor of Philosophy in Soil Science (2001) from the University of New England, Australia. He holds a Master of Science (second class Honours) in Analytical Chemistry (1989) from the University of Canterbury, New Zealand and has also attained a Bachelor of Science majoring in Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry (1982) from Massey University, New Zealand.
Dr Manu’s career in the public service began in 1983 when he was appointed as an Agricultural Officer at the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forests. Since then, he has taken over senior positions within the Ministry including Senior Soil Chemist (1991), Principal Soil Scientist (1994) and also Acting CEO from December 2009 to December 2010. He was later promoted to the position of Chief Plant Pathologist in 2001 where he continued to serve prior to his appointment to the Chief Executive Officer position.
Dr Manu is also a dedicated National Pesticide Registrar with extensive experience in managing the import, provision of statistics, advice and trainings on safety of Pesticides into Tonga. He is also Tonga’s National Codex Contact Point for the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO)/ World Health Organisation (WHO) Codex Alimentarius Commission since 2007 and the National Codex Contact for the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) Genetic Modified Platform since 2014.
Dr Manu has sat on various professional committees namely the Chemical Review Committee of the Rotterdam Convention’s Conference of the Parties as well as the Designated National Authority for Tonga for the Rotterdam Convention on the Prior Informed Consent Procedure for Certain Hazardous Pesticides in International Trade since 2012.
The Public Service Commission welcomes Dr Viliami Toalei Manu’s appointment as the new Chief Executive Officer for Agriculture, Food and Forests and wishes him success in his term in Office.
It was a sad news received from the Embassy of China that one of the staff passed away while in China on a training. Sione Kisina Takau was a permanent staff of the Ministry since 5/3/1997 as a Technical Officer Grade 2 under the Extension Division. He left his wife and 3 children.
Sione Kisina Takau has left us with a message that LIFE GOES ON. Rest In Love Sione Kisina Takau till we meet again.
Improving Agriculture productivity through ensuring data availability and enhancing agro-meteorological services.
It was a pleasure meeting you last week, I’m really glad we had the opportunity to chat. Sorry for the delay in getting back to you. The training focused on ToCSA, of course, but had multiple objectives which I’ve copied below. ToCSA is an online service that links agricultural and meteorological data to support Tongan farmers. I’ve attached a fact sheet and you should also have the flyer we left.
Bilateral Technical meeting between Tonga MAFFF and NZ MPI is the forum for Quarantine technical issues and new agricultural trade between the two countries.
