Rural communities at heart of agriculture research

Friday, 9 November 2007, Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC), CRGA 37, Apia, Samoa – Putting rural communities in the driver's seat of agricultural research and extension is clearly what the EU-funded Development of Sustainable Agriculture in the Pacific (DSAP) managed to achieve in the recent years of implementation of the initiative.

Yesterday, pleading for donors to consider providing assistance towards the conduct of an agriculture census, Francisco Marquez, farmer and Secretary of the Pohnpei Farmers Association from the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), talked about the positive difference that DSAP had made to himself as a farmer and to the local farming community in FSM.

'With the assistance of DSAP and other local partners and agencies, I have been able to extend my farming area, build a nursery, use new composting methods, increase seedling numbers, produce my own seeds among other things. The livelihood of my family has improved sensibly. I am currently looking at the possibility to export produce to Guam and the Marshall Islands.'