Nabilah S
EU-STREIT PNG and the New Guinea Binatang Research Centre worked together to train and empower 1,233 vanilla farmers, young people, and women in the Sepik region of Papua New Guinea to use climate-smart farming methods.
This is to help farm families better deal with climate change’s effects.
Under the EU-STREIT PNG Programme, this partnership with the New Guinea Binatang Research Centre and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has led to intensive workshops to build people’s skills. The goal is for vanilla farmers in the Sepik Region of PNG to deal with the effects of climate change on agriculture and food security, which are getting worse.
These training took place in Wewak, Angoram, Yangoru-Saussia, Ambunti-Dreikikir, Maprik, Wosera-Gawi, Vanimo-Green, Aitape-Lumi, and Nuku, which are all parts of the East and West Sepik provinces. Under the theme “Climate-Smart Agriculture Training for Farmers in Vanilla Production.”
One thousand two hundred thirty-three people participate in the workshops; 20% are women, and 30% are young.
Participants were trained as Trainers-of-Trainers (ToTs) and given the authority to teach other farmers in their communities about the best ways to farm. This was done to help farmers build their skills and knowledge and ensure that it stays with them.
The workshops cover all aspects of Climate-Smart Agriculture, from preparing the land to selling it and showing them how to use the money they make from vanilla to keep their lives going.
After the training, the farmers know what to do in the field and why things like pollination techniques and block management are essential to keep doing or improving. “Lisa Paschalis, one of the three experts from the Binatang Research Centre who led the training, said that the farmers now know what to do in the field and why things like pollination techniques and block management are essential to keep doing or improve to make more money and save their lives going.
The training opened the participants’ eyes to climate change and its dangers for agriculture and crops like vanilla.
“I’m learning new things in this training, like making sure my vanilla block is always clean to keep pests and diseases away,” said farmer and mother Josephine Aikaiwa of Nienguanje Village in Wewak Rural LLG, who attended the two-day session in Wewak.
Alphonse Kare, a farmer and Ward Member of Dagua LLG, said, “This training is beneficial for us.” Joel Soromari, a farmer and Ward Member of Wrindogung Village in Wewak Rural LLG, added, “I urge all participating farmers to share best practices with others in their homes and communities.”
Partnering with PNG’s national government and scientific institutions to help improve agricultural extension services and ensure that agri-food value chain development interventions will last is a top priority for the EU-STREIT PNG Programme, according to Dr. Rabi Rasaily, the FAO’s Senior Agriculture Officer and the Programme Coordinator.
He also said, “These built capacities at the coach farmer level, helped change the ways that thousands of farmers did things, and made rural communities more resilient to the effects of climate change.”
