Farmers across the provinces of Guadalcanal, Malaita and Makira/Ulawa — 14,665 of them — are being assisted through the Solomon Islands Agriculture Rural Transformation (SIART) Project, according to a SIART media release published on the Solomon Islands Government portal on 25 September and carrying a Honiara dateline of Thursday 24 September.

The release said the project is funded by the World Bank and run by the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock, and that it holds funding agreements representing SBD38.08 million with 96 Agribusiness Producer Organizations, known as ABPOs, in the three provinces. The money goes to community farmer groups and family farms in value chains such as cocoa, coconut, piggery and poultry, as well as food crops, spice, coffee and honey, the release said.

By province, the release listed 32 ABPOs in Guadalcanal with 5,165 beneficiaries, 45 in Malaita where 6,166 farmers benefit, and 19 in Makira/Ulawa benefiting 3,334 farmers. Of the 96 organisations, it said 45 work on cocoa, 20 on piggery, 14 on coconut, 9 on food crops, 4 on poultry, 2 on spice and one each on coffee and honey, across 30 constituencies. The grants aim to lift output and earnings for smallholders in the areas covered, the release said.

SIART Project Manager William Okekini said in the release that, apart from the grants, the project had undertaken to improve the standard and reach of extension work for crop growing, small livestock and animal health. "We are increasing the income for smallholder and semicommercial farmers engaged in high-value crops and small livestock production," Mr Okekini said.

For cocoa, the release put the investment at SBD18.04 million and said 880 hectares of existing cocoa farms had been rehabilitated, with 31 nurseries backed and 300,000 seedlings supplied. It said 72 new cocoa driers were built, 24 older driers repaired and 34 solar driers put up. On coconut, it said 14 ABPOs share a $5.2 million investment and 771 hectares have been rehabilitated, while $8.7 million went to 20 piggery ABPOs, reaching 532 households and around 3,000 individuals.

Greg Leta, Treasurer of the Matepono Farmers Association in Guadalcanal Province, was quoted in the release as saying: "Now we are working on building a warehouse as a storage place for cocoa beans in preparation for when we start exporting."

The release said the project ends in December 2026 and that it stays focused on raising farm output and improving farmers' access to markets in the selected value chains in the three provinces.

Source: Based on the SIART media release "More than 14,000 local farmers benefitting from SIART's support", published on the Solomon Islands Government portal (solomons.gov.sb) on 25 September 2026. https://solomons.gov.sb/more-than-14000-local-farmers-benefitting-from-siarts-support/