Vanuatu to host first ever Week of Agriculture in the Pacific
THE 11th FAO Southwest Pacific Agriculture Ministers Meeting has agreed on a proposal to host the Pacific Week of Agriculture.
This is a major agricultural event similar to the Caribbean Week of Agriculture. The proposal was presented to the meeting by Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA) , FAO and the Secretariat of Pacific Community. This event will facilitate closer collaboration, coordination and networking in the agricultural sector in the region.
Vanuatu, which will host the next meeting of the Southwest Pacific Agriculture Ministers Meeting in 2017, has also offered to host the first Pacific Week of Agriculture. Michael Hailu, CTA’s Director, presented the proposal to the meeting and with Vanuatu’s offer received overwhelming support from the Ministers.
A planning committee comprising of several Ministers from the region has also been formed to organise the event. Hailu told the meeting that the benefits of the Pacific Week of Agriculture include a well established annual event promoting agriculture in the region, significantly contributes to communication among agriculture stakeholders, forum for various stakeholder groups to discuss issues with respective governments, offers opportunities for networking, and increases exposure of agriculture in the media.
He said CTA’s possible support to the first Pacific Week of Agriculture will be to organise and sponsor workshops and side events, bring resource people from its network of partners in African, Caribbean and Pacific regions and elsewhere, support communication and media activities, and share experience from the Caribbean Week of Agriculture in planning and organising the event.
Contributor: Soldier Buruka – Media Officer
Papua New Guinea Department of Agriculture and Livestock