The Solomon Islands Agriculture Rural Transformation (SIART) Project is making steady progress in strengthening Agribusiness Producer Organizations (ABPOs) in Guadalcanal Province.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (MAL) through the World Bank funded SIART project aims to increase agricultural production, improve market access, and bolster the livelihoods of rural communities.
As part of its Agribusiness and Infrastructure Investment component, SIART aims to increase farm production and income and help farmers sell more products by forming the ABPOs.
These are groups of farmers and agri-entrepreneurs who work together to access markets, financing, and support services.
A Team from SIART recently visited ABPOs in east central and north Guadalcanal as part of regular monitoring visits to ensure better coordination and witnessed the progress ABPOs in the region are making and the potential impacts on community members.
The team started in Gheghede village in Aola ward, east central Guadalcanal where the project is supporting the Atunoda Family Farmers Association to increase the production capacity of smallholder farmers in high-value crops and food crops.
The community is well known for producing large quantities of pineapples. With more than 30 members or household, each one of them harvest between 700 to 1000 pineapples in one harvest earning between $4,000 to $5,000.
Fittingly SIART is also partnering with the community to construct a pineapple processing shed worth approximately $196,106 including an additional $24,500 support to purchase a pineapple processing machine.
In north Guadalcanal, the team visited the Matepono Farmers Association where a $400,000 grant is supporting local cocoa farmers to increase production and market their dry cocoa beans.
The objective is to increase cocoa yield per tree and overall production by the Matepono Farmers Association by the end of 2025 and construct standard cocoa processing units.
This will in turn increase quantity by 10% in 2026 and improve quality of cocoa dried beans by 15% in 2026 through building of driers and financial literature training.
In Guadalcanal Province, there are a total of 32 ABPOs comprising smallholder farmers in cocoa, coconut, coffee, fruits, spices, piggery, poultry, root crops and vegetables.
After their establishment, MAL through the SIART strengthens these ABPOs by registering them under cooperative society act or community Company, opening their bank account, and preparing business plans to access project grants to promote agriculture commercialization.
SIART Project Manager, William Okekini highlighted that the objective behind the ABPO Grants is to increase the production capacity and income of smallholder farmers in high-value crops, food crops, feed crops and small livestock in the project targeted areas.
“It will also improve the quality of, and access to, extension services in crop production, small livestock production, and animal health services.
“This intervention targets the vulnerable communities for agricultural production and the rest of the project areas for increasing income of smallholder and semicommercial farmers engaged in high-value crops and small livestock production, aiming to contribute to the objective of enhanced agricultural production, import substitution, and increased export,” Mr Okekini said.
Including Guadalcanal Province, so far 96 ABPOs have signed grant agreements across three provinces, under a total investment of SBD37.75 million. The other two provinces are Malaita Province (45) and Makira/Ulawa Province (19).
This has assisted the ABPOs in strengthening agricultural activities and funds are also utilized for various purposes including administration, transport hire, training, labour costs and operational costs.
Source: SIART Press Statement
