Agricultural Investment for Markets and Nutrition in Solomon Islands and the Republic of Vanuatu

About the Project

In the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu, GAFSP funds totaling $15 million will support a multi-country project to improve nutrition and increase farm incomes from resilient farming systems in rural communities.  

The project will support the Governments of the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu to implement selected elements of their agriculture sector investment plans and COVID response measures that directly contribute to the sustainable, inclusive, and resilient recovery. The project addresses the three interrelated problems of poor nutrition, low farm incomes, and the vulnerability of local agri-food systems to shocks which include pandemics, natural disasters, and climate change. The project will develop the capacity of the extension services in both countries to more effectively reach out to small farming communities through teams of locally recruited community facilitators. The extension services will partner with service providers, often NGOs, with a proven track record in community mobilization and in value chain facilitation. Capacity will also be developed for producer groups.  

Value chains will be strengthened through partnerships between producer groups and private businesses. Interventions will address institutions (networks, partnership agreements, flow of information including use of digital technology) and hardware (e.g. processing, storage, and small-scale transport or market infrastructure). Project-funded investments of the producer groups are expected to create a conducive environment for investment by the private sector partners. By itself, the production of perishable produce for urban markets cannot sustain adequate farm incomes for many island communities. While the project will focus on nutritious food crops and small livestock, the project will also invest in the production and marketing of cash crops in order to encourage sustainable practices and enhance the self-reliance and resilience of private farmers.  

The project adopts a community-driven approach based on experiences across the Pacific demonstrating the importance of alignment with traditional social practices, collective decision-making, and shared interests of targeted households. Addressing the social structure of production (including land and labor allocation, which is influenced greatly by community leaders) has proven invaluable for social inclusion, including access and targeting of women and youth as well as poorer or more disadvantaged households. This strategy will be implemented through three inter-dependent components, focused respectively on community action, capacity building, and investments.