Opening doors to new markets and unlocking holistic solutions for food security and sustainable agricultural systems

By Catherine Wong, Programme Specialist, SDG Fund with inputs from Srijana Rana, UNDP Inclusive Growth Team Leader, Ruci Yauvoli, UNDP Inclusive Growth Programme Associate, Donald Wouloseje, UNDP Programme Analyst based in Vanuatu, and George Bumseng, Farm Support Association/Syndicat Agricole et Pastoral de Vanuatu, Edwin Mensah, Financial Inclusion Coordinator, UNCDF, and edited by Vesna Jaksic and Raúl de Mora, SDG Fund)

With their small populations, remote locations and long distances to markets, vulnerability to natural hazards, extreme weather events and climate change, the Pacific Island Countries face complex challenges in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). While agriculture is a key source of growth and livelihoods for many Pacific Small Island Developing States, agricultural runoffs such as fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides are widely recognized as the largest nonpoint source of surface and groundwater pollution globally. The Food and Agriculture Organization's Land and Water Division Director, Eduardo Mansur, and International Water Management Institute Director General, Claudia Sadoff, in the 2018 report, ‘More People, More Food, Worse Water? A Global Review of Water Pollution from Agriculture’ noted that “agriculture is the single largest producer of wastewater by volume… As land use has intensified, countries have greatly increased the use of synthetic pesticides, fertilizers and other inputs." In this regard, the practice of organic agriculture has been recognized as a means to promote long term agricultural sustainability, reduce pollution, promote soil conservation and climate change resilience of agriculture and livestock systems through effective eco-system management.

A Pacific Small Island Developing State, Vanuatu is an archipelago located in the “Pacific Ring of Fire” with a population of 270,000 spread across 65 inhabited islands. Agriculture and agro-food value chains in particular, copra (coconut dried meat or kernel), cocoa, kava, beef and coffee production are key drivers of the local rural economy. However, with the vulnerability of agriculture-based economies to external shocks, environmental sustainability and climate smart agriculture are important to the country’s food security and sustainable development.

Agricultural production in Vanuatu was devastated by Tropical Cyclone Pam in 2015. With wind speeds of up to 320 kilometers per hour, the Category 5 cyclone was one of the worst to make landfall in Vanuatu. An estimated 90% of subsistence crops were destroyed along with 50% of shelters in Tanna island. The total value of economic losses to the country was estimated at 50% of annual Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Likewise, the volatile markets and fall in copra price, a valuable cash crop, materialized substantial losses for many farmers who quickly switched to other cash crops. The collateral impact was felt also by the livestock sector. Copra meal, a byproduct of the sector that is typically sold as fodder to livestock farmers bringing in an additional revenue stream, which once abundant in supply also dried up overnight.

Many places in Vanuatu, like Tanna island is home to one of the most accessible active volcanoes in the world with fertile volcanic soils rich in nutrients such as nitrates and phosphates. This means that subsistence farmers with little means at their disposal, have traditionally cultivated crops and vegetables without the additional use of synthetic agrichemicals. However, slash-and-burn land-clearing methods typically practiced by many subsistence farmers in developing countries to temporarily boost soil fertility have had long term detrimental impacts on the environment resulting in soil erosion, deforestation and climate change events.

With technical assistance from UNDP, Farm Support Association and POETCOM/SPC, the “Youth in Organic Agriculture” joint programme in Vanuatu, semi-subsistence and small holder farmers including women and youth, were taught to intercrop with taro, maize, island cabbage, manioc, kava, and sandalwood which helps avoid the negative effects of monoculture/cash crop production and allows diversification of farming families’ diets, livelihoods and revenue streams. Organic certification was further promoted in partnership with Tanna Coffee, Lapita Café Vanuatu and Nasi Tuan.

Apart from the environmental benefits of organic production itself, organic certification can potentially offer greater access to new markets at home and abroad. In this regard, Participatory Guarantee Systems are local network-based quality assurance systems, which through the framework of their stakeholder structure, including farmers and consumers, can provide a credible, accessible and lower cost alternative to third-party certification. Given the local cultivation practices, the programme was able to quickly operationalize Participatory Guarantee Systems by working with local socially-responsible companies. It also supported the organic certification of product lines such as coffee, dry roasted peanuts and cassava flour to the Pacific Organic Standard. The programme thus effectively demonstrated the use of Participatory Guarantee Systems in Vanuatu under the “Organic Pasifika” mark with technical support and oversight provided by Farm Support Association, Vanuatu Organic Certification Committee and POETCOM/SPC. 

The SDG Fund joint programme, “Youth in Organic Agriculture in Vanuatu” reached more than 3,000 semi-subsistence and smallholder farmers, and provided access to tools and small pieces of equipment such as water tanks and wheel barrows. The certification process promoted greater attention to quality control among all programme partners, including local companies, non-governmental organizations and farmers who recognize a holistic approach to agriculture over a focus on a single cash crop. The joint programme promoted South-South cooperation through knowledge sharing and exchange with Solomon Islands and scoped for new market opportunities in New Caledonia. While it is still early, partners reported an increase in sales, such as to Vanuatu hotels in the “organic tourism” sector and an increase in access to foreign markets, where organic certification is requisite.

Overall challenges still facing the sector include the awareness of organic practices and products by the industry, government and public, the strict requirements and costs of certification, the required three-year transition period from conventional to organic production (during which “transition crops” cannot be certified), the unscrupulous use of “organic-branded” marketing practices for non-organic products, and the proliferation of providers of organic standards and certification.