THE Minister for Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (MAL) Honorable Franklyn Derek Wasi, has met with the Rome based Director General for UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), His Excellency Dr. Qu Dongyu during the 2024 Pacific SIDS Solutions Forum in Nadi, Fiji recently.
This is the first time for Honorable Wasi to meet with the FAO Director General since he became the Minister for MAL.
During the meeting, MAL Minister thanked Dr. Qu for the many technical cooperation projects facilitated by FAO through the ministry.
Some of these projects include the sustainable transformation of domestic agri-food systems (STODAS), One Country One Priority Product (OCOP) to address the whole value chain for cassava production, processing, marketing and consumption, the Hand In Hand Initiative (HIHI) focusing on poultry and coconut development and the Digital Village Initiative (DVI) where solar powered digital hubs and conference facilities connected to internet are established in two communities in Malaita province for farmers to access agriculture and market related information.
Minister MAL further emphasized the need for the amplification of these projects and expand their coverage to reach many of our stakeholders in the rural areas.
Minister Wasi also requested FAO through the Director General to upgrade the status of the FAO Solomon Islands office to a fully-fledged country office to allow for full time FAO officers to be stationed in Solomon Islands to assist the ministry mobilize resources and strengthen its technical capacity needed to develop the agriculture sector.
In his response the Director General for FAO was pleased to meet the Solomon Islands Minister for agriculture and livestock, and pledged the full support of the organization to work closely with Solomon Islands and will ensure that the requests received from the ministry to develop the sector are positively considered and implemented as appropriate.
Minister Wasi was accompanied by Hon. Trevor Mahaga Minister for MECDM and Permanent Secretary MAL Dr. Samson Viulu in the meeting.
Source: Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (MAL)
