AgrikalsaNius.

Abstract

The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock, Frank Wickham has paid tribute to the staff of MAL, stakeholders and partners for their joint effort in taking the agriculture sector forward in 2012. Wickham says the past year has been a big one for the Ministry with partnerships, collaborations and plain hard work the key to enabling the Ministry to deliver on a number of fronts. Among the highlights of 2012 was the launching of the Women in Agriculture Programme that provided support to women farmers for a wide range of initiatives from cocoa, copra, kava to flower arrangements. Wickham says the programme reflected the scaling up of MAL’s support to farmers in 2012. The past year also saw the setting up of a new national cocoa strategy, a new indigenous fruit and nuts strategy and consultations on a cattle strategy.“Our approach is now more strategic with better planning. It will make our work in these sub sectors easier because now we know where we are going based on our strategic plans.” In 2012 there were also major developments in oil palm with MAL supporting the survey and registration of land for potential oil palm development in Auluta and Waisisi in Malaita, while a feasibility study was carried out in Choiseul. Wickham says this included collaboration with landowners and associations in getting groundwork done for oil palm development. For the Quarantine Division, 2012 saw the Division build its capacity to carry out border surveillance in the Shortlands and Choiseul with the building of staff housing. The year also ended with the Quarantine Department carrying out consultations on the draft Biosecurity Bill that will go to Cabinet in early 2013. Once enacted and passed by Parliament the bill will modernise the Quarantine Division. “Rice was another national project that had a big year with the setting up of a commercial rice farm at Gozoruru in Isabel. We also supported rice projects in nearly all the provinces.” Looking ahead to 2013 Wickham says while MAL will continue with its core business and take on new initiatives one of the key areas in the Ministry’s work plan is in building the capacity of staff and managing human resources through more training and recruitment “We are prioritising the need to build capacity in the Ministry in order for us to provide the best service possible for farmers, stakeholders and the people of Solomon Islands.” In 2013 the Ministry will carry out a number of reviews, starting with a review of operations that will lead to a major restructure of MAL during the year. Wickham says this will be undertaken with the help of RDP. One of MAL’s biggest departments, the Extension Service is also expected to undergo major reform.