The Solomon Islands Agriculture and Rural Transformation (SIART) Project supported the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (MAL) by conducting three stakeholders' workshops over the past two weeks.
These workshops, held at the Faculty of Agriculture Forestry and Fishery, Science and Conference Room, Solomon Islands National University, Kukum Campus, aimed to develop a training manual.
John Tatalo, the SIART Institutional Capacity Building Officer, stated that the workshops, organized by SIART PMU in collaboration with MAL officers and market access stakeholders, were designed to identify key training areas.
The training objectives and proposed content, approved by MAL, will form the basis of the training curriculum. This curriculum reflects the needs outlined in the Capacity Building chapter of the SIART project implementation manual and addresses the learning needs of MAL, covering both small livestock and crop commodities.
Ongoing consultations with stakeholders involved in agri-food commodities market access are essential to develop an agricultural training manual that facilitates market access for local commodities, targeting import substitution and exports.
MAL requires a cohesive, documented training manual to guide staff and community resource persons in training farmers.
“There is a need for systematic training within MAL to guide officers through the agricultural extension services program in reaching our farmers,” Tatalo said. “The manual will serve as a basis for the capacity development of MAL staff and community resource persons, providing consistent training content to our livestock and crop farmers.”
He added that the training manual would be developed in two levels: initially for MAL staff and community resource persons as trainers, and subsequently into simpler, user-friendly formats such as worksheets, leaflets, posters, and video clips to focus on the practical application of the training for farmers.
The goal of developing the training manual is to equip agricultural extension services officers to effectively build farmers' capacity, thereby increasing the production of identified crop and livestock commodities. This increase will support market access for exports, import substitution, and local markets.
Tatalo emphasized the importance of a collective effort among agri-food stakeholders to improve agri-food value chains and enable market access for agricultural sector developments.
Source: Press Release, Ministry of Azgriculture and Livestock