PGR News from the Pacific

Posted 2:20 AM by Tevita

Villagers learn best practices

From: Fiji Times
Friday, May 25, 2007

Drawa villagers in the interior of Vanua Levu count themselves lucky to be part of a community-based sustainable forest management initiative by the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) and the Pacific-German Regional Forestry Project (GTZ).

Today, the villagers are reaping the benefits of this community-based initiative in terms of knowledge and skills gained through training and the added income from logging and farming.

SPC coordinator Steven Hazelman said during discussions with the villagers in 2006, they asked for dalo planting material to help in food security and as an alternative source of income.
"Instead of just supplying the planting material for the villagers, we decided to run training for them on the process of growing quality taro that will meet export requirements," he said.

Drawa Village is located in the district of Wailevu, in Cakaudrove Province.
The road to Drawa, however, originates from Lutukina district (past Seaqaqa) in Macuata Province. Getting to Drawa Village means crossing the Macuata-Cakaudrove border through some of the most rugged terrain on Vanua Levu.

Mr Hazelman said the idea then was to start a model taro farm in Drawa that would give the villagers the opportunity to have a "hands-on-training" on all the recommended practices of producing export quality taro and to see first-hand how the quality can be affected through poor management practices.

To get the project under way, SPC/GTZ collaborated with the Agriculture Ministry's research and extension divisions on the supply of dalo suckers and expertise on on-farm research trials.
Mr Hazelman said the villagers were supplied with 6000 dalo suckers in 2006 to establish the dalo farm that acted as trial plots.

"By assisting the researchers in the collection of data from land selection to harvesting, the villagers learnt valuable knowledge and skills on the correct way to run a commercial dalo farm.

"Some of the things they learnt included the importance of analysing the fertility of their land through the soil testing method in order to supply dalo plants with the right amount of fertiliser, the importance of weed control and the right time to harvest for top quality corm."Mr Hazelman said by addressing soil fertility, villagers were able to use land that was close to the village and which had been used many times over the years, to produce top quality dalo.

"One of the concerns of the villagers was the increasing rate of clearing the forest areas around their village for farming. "As the soil loses fertility from constant use over the years, villagers kept clearing new areas for new crops.

"Today, they have to walk for hours just to get to their farms and presented a growing concern on how far they had to carry farm inputs and produce."

With the technology developed from the trial plots, the farmers have now realised they have the necessary knowledge and skills to improve production from idle land close to their village.
Waisali Farms owner Sam Foi, who buys the taro from the villagers, is very happy and satisfied with the quality of the crop.

This has given the villagers an added incentive to grow as an additional source of income to logging and yaqona.

Mr Hazelman said from the 6000 dalo suckers they supplied, villagers now had over 20,000 suckers for the next crop.
Drawa Village headman Laisenia Drodrolagi said the help and support provided by the SPC-GTZ, in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture, had given them hope and a new lease of life. "We had always relied on yaqona for income. Now we have two sources of income that we can tap," he said.

"The village is grateful to SPC, GTZ and their partners for what they have done for us.
"We hope this partnership will continue to grow for the benefit of the people of Drawa.
"The training conducted by SPC-GTZ has enabled them to cultivate land closer to the village that had been left idle because of constant use and poor fertility. "Until the introduction of this technology, our farms were usually located on virgin land far from the village and we had to travel for hours on foot to reach them."

The Drawa model area for community-based sustainable forest management encompasses 6345.5 hectares of mountainous terrain, covered with indigenous and restored secondary forest.
Most of the area is in Cakaudrove, although a part of it is in Macuata. Mr Hazelmen said the model area was under native land tenure, with customary ownership belonging to 11 landowning units (mataqali).

"There are six main villages for Drawa mataqali members and their households with Drawa and Vatuvonu located within the model area, Keka and Lutukina are in the periphery area and Batiri and Nayarailagi villages located north of the model area," he said.

"In 1994, the Fiji Forestry Department selected the Drawa block as a model site for the sustainable management (SFM) of native forests in Fiji and this was the start of the partnership with the people of Drawa."Since 1999, the Forestry Department with the support of the SPC/GTZ has been working with the landowners of Drawa to develop a community-based sustainable forest management regime for their natural forests. When the project started, the Drawa Block was under the concession of Fiji Forest Industries (FFI), which expired in 1999.
FFI, at first maintained its right for extension, based on the old concession agreement of 1964, but after consultations and negotiations, FFI surrendered the Drawa Block in 2003.

The Drawa Block is now under the concession of the community-based Drawa Forest Landowners Co-operative Ltd. (DraFCo), thus ensuring legal long-term security and control of their forest resources.

Mr Hazelman anticipates the experiences gained from the Drawa model area will assist other viable community-based sustainable forest management regimes for native forests in Fiji and contribute towards the mainstreaming of participatory rural land use planning in Fiji.



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DIVA-GIS	Sunday, May 27, 2007 Posted 2:20 AM by Tevita Villagers learn best practices From: Fiji Times Friday, May 25, 2007 Drawa villagers in the interior of Vanua Levu count themselves lucky to be part of a community-based sustainable forest management initiative by the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) and the Pacific-German Regional Forestry Project (GTZ). Today, the villagers are reaping the benefits of this community-based initiative in terms of knowledge and skills gained through training and the added income from logging and farming. SPC coordinator Steven Hazelman said during discussions with the villagers in 2006, they asked for dalo planting material to help in food security and as an alternative source of income. "Instead of just supplying the planting material for the villagers, we decided to run training for them on the process of growing quality taro that will meet export requirements," he said. Drawa Village is located in the district of Wailevu, in Cakaudrove Province. The road to Drawa, however, originates from Lutukina district (past Seaqaqa) in Macuata Province. Getting to Drawa Village means crossing the Macuata-Cakaudrove border through some of the most rugged terrain on Vanua Levu. Mr Hazelman said the idea then was to start a model taro farm in Drawa that would give the villagers the opportunity to have a "hands-on-training" on all the recommended practices of producing export quality taro and to see first-hand how the quality can be affected through poor management practices. To get the project under way, SPC/GTZ collaborated with the Agriculture Ministry's research and extension divisions on the supply of dalo suckers and expertise on on-farm research trials. Mr Hazelman said the villagers were supplied with 6000 dalo suckers in 2006 to establish the dalo farm that acted as trial plots. "By assisting the researchers in the collection of data from land selection to harvesting, the villagers learnt valuable knowledge and skills on the correct way to run a commercial dalo farm. "Some of the things they learnt included the importance of analysing the fertility of their land through the soil testing method in order to supply dalo plants with the right amount of fertiliser, the importance of weed control and the right time to harvest for top quality corm."Mr Hazelman said by addressing soil fertility, villagers were able to use land that was close to the village and which had been used many times over the years, to produce top quality dalo. "One of the concerns of the villagers was the increasing rate of clearing the forest areas around their village for farming. "As the soil loses fertility from constant use over the years, villagers kept clearing new areas for new crops. "Today, they have to walk for hours just to get to their farms and presented a growing concern on how far they had to carry farm inputs and produce." With the technology developed from the trial plots, the farmers have now realised they have the necessary knowledge and skills to improve production from idle land close to their village. Waisali Farms owner Sam Foi, who buys the taro from the villagers, is very happy and satisfied with the quality of the crop. This has given the villagers an added incentive to grow as an additional source of income to logging and yaqona. Mr Hazelman said from the 6000 dalo suckers they supplied, villagers now had over 20,000 suckers for the next crop. Drawa Village headman Laisenia Drodrolagi said the help and support provided by the SPC-GTZ, in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture, had given them hope and a new lease of life. "We had always relied on yaqona for income. Now we have two sources of income that we can tap," he said. "The village is grateful to SPC, GTZ and their partners for what they have done for us. "We hope this partnership will continue to grow for the benefit of the people of Drawa. "The training conducted by SPC-GTZ has enabled them to cultivate land closer to the village that had been left idle because of constant use and poor fertility. "Until the introduction of this technology, our farms were usually located on virgin land far from the village and we had to travel for hours on foot to reach them." The Drawa model area for community-based sustainable forest management encompasses 6345.5 hectares of mountainous terrain, covered with indigenous and restored secondary forest. Most of the area is in Cakaudrove, although a part of it is in Macuata. Mr Hazelmen said the model area was under native land tenure, with customary ownership belonging to 11 landowning units (mataqali). "There are six main villages for Drawa mataqali members and their households with Drawa and Vatuvonu located within the model area, Keka and Lutukina are in the periphery area and Batiri and Nayarailagi villages located north of the model area," he said. "In 1994, the Fiji Forestry Department selected the Drawa block as a model site for the sustainable management (SFM) of native forests in Fiji and this was the start of the partnership with the people of Drawa."Since 1999, the Forestry Department with the support of the SPC/GTZ has been working with the landowners of Drawa to develop a community-based sustainable forest management regime for their natural forests. When the project started, the Drawa Block was under the concession of Fiji Forest Industries (FFI), which expired in 1999. FFI, at first maintained its right for extension, based on the old concession agreement of 1964, but after consultations and negotiations, FFI surrendered the Drawa Block in 2003. The Drawa Block is now under the concession of the community-based Drawa Forest Landowners Co-operative Ltd. (DraFCo), thus ensuring legal long-term security and control of their forest resources. Mr Hazelman anticipates the experiences gained from the Drawa model area will assist other viable community-based sustainable forest management regimes for native forests in Fiji and contribute towards the mainstreaming of participatory rural land use planning in Fiji. * Comments: Post a Comment	Archive October 2002 November 2002 December 2002 January 2003 February 2003 March 2003 April 2003 May 2003 June 2003 July 2003 August 2003 September 2003 October 2003 November 2003 December 2003 January 2004 February 2004 March 2004 April 2004 May 2004 June 2004 July 2004 August 2004 September 2004 October 2004 November 2004 December 2004 January 2005 February 2005 March 2005 April 2005 May 2005 June 2005 July 2005 August 2005 September 2005 October 2005 November 2005 December 2005 January 2006 February 2006 March 2006 April 2006 May 2006 June 2006 July 2006 August 2006 September 2006 October 2006 November 2006 December 2006 January 2007 February 2007 March 2007 April 2007 May 2007 June 2007 July 2007 August 2007 September 2007 October 2007 November 2007 December 2007 January 2008 February 2008 March 2008 April 2008 May 2008 June 2008 July 2008 August 2008 September 2008 October 2008 November 2008 December 2008 January 2009 February 2009 March 2009 April 2009 May 2009 June 2009 July 2009 August 2009 September 2009 October 2009 November 2009 January 2010 RSS Feed Alternative feed Contact Tevita Something new: Agrobiodiversity Weblog: For discussions of conservation and sustainable use of the genetic resources of crops, livestock and their wild relatives. 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