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The FAO Subregional Office of the Pacific Island is pleased to welcome Ms Ann Hayman in her role of Food Safety and Nutrition Consultant  in Apia, Samoa. Ann joins  the Subregional Office from New Zealand where she worked for the Ministry for Primary Industries. She has had positions with the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, New Zealand Food Safety Authority and Food Standards Australia New Zealand as a manager, senior program...

Mr Dirk Schulz left Samoa in December 2015 after serving the region for the past two decades in a variety of positions, including most recently as FAO Food Safety and Nutrition Officer for the Pacific Island Countries. Mr Schulz’ duties as Food Safety and Nutrition Officer covered a wide range of technical areas focusing on food safety and quality, as well as nutrition in the developing states of the Pacific. In...

We are pleased to introduce Joann Young who recently joined the FAO Subregional team as Assistant FAO Representative and will greatly assist FAO activities on the ground  in Fiji. In the following brief profile, we find out a little about who Joann is and why she joined FAO.  Name: Joann Young Title: Assistant FAO Representative, Fiji Nationality: Fijian Before joining FAO: I was the Trade Policy Adviser for the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat before...

Rosemary Kafa is joining the FAO Subregional team as Assistant FAO Representative for the Solomon Islands. In the following brief profile, we find out a little about who Rosemary is and why she joined FAO.  Name: Rosemary Kafa Title Assistant FAO Representative, Solomon Islands   Nationality: Solomon Islander Before joining FAO: I was employed by the Ministry of Health and Medical Services from August 1996 to January 2016, holding various positions within the Nutrition and Food...

FAO and its partners are working together in training Fisheries Monitoring, Control and Surveillance (MCS) training in the Pacific. Fisheries enforcement and compliance is critical for the management of the regions tuna and oceanic resources. Members of the Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA) have called for greater recognition of MCS and effective fisheries management. It was identified that this aim could be achieved by an MCS practitioners’ introductory training programme. The...

Observing World Food Day 2015 in Samoa coincided with the Agriculture Week which was hosted by the Government of Samoa through the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries. Supporting youth in agriculture As part of the celebrations, a competition was held aimed at High Schools that give agriculture a high profile in their school curriculum. The competition provided an opportunity for the students to showcase projects and to provide an incentive to continue...

Belgium’s USD 285 000 contribution to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) emergency programme in Vanuatu provides help to more than 4 000 families (approximately 20 000 people) in Shefa and Tafea provinces, who continue to face challenges recovering from Tropical Cyclone Pam. With early funding in response to the disaster, FAO was able to initiate recovery activities for restoring agricultural production by distributing vegetable seeds and increasing knowledge of...

The Pacific Island States have invested much effort and funding in policies and legislation to create awareness for its citizens to conserve and protect the forests and eco-system services for the environment and for society as a whole. Legislation, however, has to be enforced in order to be effective.  Well managed law enforcement in the form of patrols, inspections, investigation and apprehension of offenders ultimately leads to the prevention of criminal...

The Fiji Crop and Livestock Council (FCLC) and the FAO are joining forces to promote contract farming as a means to coordinate links between farmers and agribusiness firms. In simple terms, contract farming is an agreement which establishes conditions between a buyer and farmers for the production and marketing of agricultural produce. Under contract farming, producers typically commit to supply agricultural produce which satisfies the specified conditions of a contract. These specifications...

A new project, to combat land degradation and improve land management practices in Fiji was officially launched in November. The 2 million Euro Action Against Desertification (AAD) Project is supported by the European Union in the context of the ACP/EU programme that supports the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States. FAO will implement the four year project. The ADD project was launched by Acting Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Forestry and...