HANGO Agricultural College Project (‘Eua) funded by EU-PAPP/SPC, 2017 – June 2018

Monday, May 15th, 2017

The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Forests (MAFF), Tonga, with the Pacific Community (SPC) have agreed to a Financing Agreement in 2015 to facilitate funding of activities towards development and awareness for the Tonga agriculture sector plan, research and extension support services, smallholder market linkages and commodity value chains. Under the research and extension component, three broad priority areas were identified:

• Capacity building for extension and advisory services and farmers in partnership with Hango Agricultural College (HAC)
• Strengthening linkages between research and extension stakeholders through participatory technology development using new resilient crops varieties for sustainable seed system and livestock feed trials
• Development of Tonga National Agricultural Information Systems (TONAIS)
• Tonga, like other Pacific islands, is extremely vulnerable to extreme weather events and natural disasters. In fact Tonga ranked second to Vanuatu as most-at-risk country in the world to natural disasters by (UNU, 2016). The climate predictions indicate a likelihood of more frequent or intensity of natural extreme events like tropical cyclones and drought. Category 5 Tropical cyclones Pam and Winston have caused widespread agricultural losses in Vanuatu and Fiji in just 2 years. It is paramount that the Pacific Island Countries and Territories (PICTs) start building resilient systems to climate change and natural disasters.

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