Climate Change & Agriculture Committee Launched in Eratap

by Jean-Baptiste CALO

The Shefa Province Area Development Officer, Ian Kalsuak officially launched the Eratap Climate Change and Agriculture Committee on Friday November 7th  2014 at the Eratap Presbyterian Church hall.

Shefa Provincial Area Development Officer, Ian Kalsuak (Top Far left)
launched the Eratap Agriculture & Climate Change Committee.

M. Malian Andrew the young Eratap Area Secretary and Eratap Youth leader is heading the newly formed committee.

The newly launched Eratap Climate Change & Agriculture Committee is comprised of six (6) members who are community leaders within the village.

The newly formed committee is comprised of the following members:

Malian Andrew as the Chairman, Josephine Tom as the Vice-Chairman, David Andrew is  the Secretary, Andrew Andrew is Vice Secretary, Tinapu Andrew, Leisok Kalosil, Ray Kalosil and Kalfau Kalsong are the simple members of executive committee.

In his launching remarks, Mr Kalsuak congratulated the newly established community for their initiative and he also took the opportunity to challenge the Eratap Community to arise and to be proactive in working closely with the department of agriculture and the climate change authorities in the country to arrange for more awareness and demonstration plots where they could practically trial hybride root crops conceived by the Vanuatu Agriculture Research & Technical Centre (VARTC).

“People of Eratap, wake up, other villages located at the surrounding areas of Port-Vila such as the villages of Pango and Erakor have also recently launched their similar committees because they are aware of the urgency of to cater for food security in the future. And they are exposed to worse cases of population pressure (compared to Eratap) with the urban drift phenomena in the Capital city. Erakor and Pango are moving. They are acquiring more knowledge in forestry and new farming techniques resilient to climate change ....You have to wake up, move and organise yourself before you’ll be left out far behind”, Mr Kalsuak said.

He encouraged the newly established Agriculture and Climate Change Committee to be proactive and to work closely with the relevant government departments in order to train the Eratap farmers and families with the new farming techniques and new hybride root crops that will be trialled on the demonstration plot.

During that meeting, the Principal Agriculture Officer, Antoine Ravo and GIZ Climate Change Programme officer, Isso Nihmei did a presentation on the role of the Department of Agriculture of its extension services and the impacts of Climate Change on Agriculture and the Environment.

Mr. Kalsuak praised Malian Andrew for his willingness and good heart to offer a piece of land for the demonstration plot.

Mr Ravo and Mr Nihmei congratulated the new established committee and invited them to work closely with the Department of Agriculture and GIZ Climate Change Programme for the trials on the demonstration plot.

Mr Ravo emphasised that government departments can only work on commented based project through such established committees.

This launching is a result of a project conducted by Native Productions, a small local TV production who carried out a survey study on the impacts of climate change and none climatic issues on the community of Eratap located at 15 minutes drive from Vanuatu’s capital, Port-Vila.

Eratap Area Secretary and Chairman of the newly established committee, Malian Andrew thanked Native Productions for the “Stori Blong Aelan” project on Eratap.

The Member of the Eratap Chief Council, Kalfao Kalsong said : “Through this project we had various workshops and group discussions on the Impact of Climate Change and urban drift. We had the opportunity to increase our knowledge and learn about the existence of new farming techniques resilient to Climate Change. And today, we are launching the Eratap Climate Change  & Agriculture Committee. All those things are happening through the project initiated by Native Productions. We hope that you will always be available in the future to assist us with your counsels”.

The “Stori Blong Aelan” project carried out by Native Productions is funded by Pacific Media Assistance Scheme (PACMAS).

The project was comprised of a survey carried out during a one year period through various group discussions and meeting with the Eratap villagers who attended the workshops organised by Native Productions with the assistance from a facilitator from the Vanuatu National Climate Change Office. A short video documentary, “Stori blong Aelan” was also produced as part of that project. It is available on the PACMAS website and on Youtube on the following internet links:

http://www.pacmas.org/profile/documentary-stori-blong-aelan/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XrKznfdfCM

Exclusive Interview With Vanuatu Ambassador at the EU on the Kava Dossier

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH HIS EXCELLENCY ROY MICKEY JOY ON THE KAVA DOSSIER 

by Jean-Baptiste CALO

Vanuatu Times: Your Excellency,you’ve been pushing the kava dossier for the last decade or so. And the Vanuatu government also through the ministry of trade and the ministry of foreign affairs has been repeatedly raising the kava issue during international meetings.

After the positive results of the Independent European Research team on kava, the German Federal Court has finally handed out its judgment in favour of the lift of the kava ban in Europe. And today Kava is recognised as an official product of the ACP group. Can you elaborate on that.

 Vanuatu Ambassador to the EU, H.E. Roy Mickey Joy

His Excellency Roy Mickey Joy: Two things have happened since our ministerial meeting held in March 2012.  We went back to Brussels we worked with the ACP Secretariat. 

We worked really hard with the EU to convince them to recognise the issue of Kava as an emergent commodity for Pacific Islands Kava producing countries.

On the one hand we have now secured through the ACP-EU technical balance to Trade BMU, a global some of 400 0000 Euros for the second study on Kava dynamics which is going to be launched in Brussels in the next few weeks.

The experts would be based in Vanuatu and they would cover Fiji, Tonga, Samoa, Federate States of Micronesia, Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands, the friends of Kava. 

These are comprehensive studies. 

On one hand , the study will be going to look at the current ban, the signs, the analysis done by the laboratory that is going to be recognised and authenticated.

 And secondly, looking at the trade policy area, where to move the kava dossier from where we are in this point in time.

The expert who has spent more than 20 years in kava research. Dr Vincent Lebot will be part of consultancy team who will help the Pacific island countries to carry out that kava scientific study for a 7 months duration.

After the completion of the scientific research, a ministerial meeting will be convened here in Port-Vila Vanuatu. A meeting in which the global players and actors, the private sector, the exporters and the farmers will come together and decide on the new roadmap of the kava production and development in the Pacific. 

We are going to work with national and regional organisations to agree on new mechanism for the pricing of kava as a commodity.

And thirdly, Vanuatu will have to use the base of the study to redefine the legislation of how kava should be consumed, used and utilised commercially in Vanuatu. So that we give back the level of ownership to our farmers,  but largely we protect kava as a product of the people of this country.

Naturally and economically yes,  we will see a relatively increase in Kava price locally and internationally.

The farmers will be paid the price due to them, exporters will be able to generate enough commercial benefits of kava. But lastly and importantly, the Vanuatu people through the government and through Parliament and through the farmers will be ale to administer, regulate and look at the scope of kava as a commodity that will take this country in the next 20 years.

There has never been so much work done over kava in the last 34 years until we came into the scene.

And this is one of the direct work of the embassy of Vanuatu in Brussels to take the Kava dossier to the global scene as it has never been seen before.

At the beginning of this year we made a submission to the ACP Secretariat in Brussels. The ACP Secretariat is at the moment reviewing and redefining the scope of its work on commodity programs.

For the last 30 years,  ACP and EU have given so much attention to sugar through the sugar protocole, the cotton producing countries in Africa and bananas.  Now I wish to confirm at this stage, kava from the Pacific region has now been accepted now has the fourth items in the whole ACP commodity program beginning in 2015-2020. 

V.T.: What does that mean?

His Excellency R.M.J.: It means that while ACP and EU are trying to sort out their own fundings and program activities for the next few years, they will also be able to treat kava equally as they treat and give financial support to sugar and bananas in the Caribbean and cotton from 5 producing countries in West Africa.

So never before we’ve seen kava come to this stage.

The only challenge now is for our local industry in Vanuatu. The Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Trade and the Chamber of Commerce , they need to come together to start organising themselves on the challenges that are going to come about as the result of these studies.

They need to play their part and be part of the entire process otherwise, we can have legislations and the work done, be if the industry is not prepared, we’ll not be able to fulfil the aspirations that are expected from this important work we’re doing outside.

My advise to the kava farmers is to plant more noble varieties of kava recommended by the Ministry of Agriculture, Trade and Chamber of Commerce. They should plant more because because when the increase of the kava prices comes, we’ll have an influx in the market.

I want to encourage the farmers to continue to plant even more kava, because the future is looking bright for them with how things are evolving now in regard to this commodity.

They should plant more to prepare for the openings that the EU and the world market outside will take into  kava.

Kava is has special properties,  it should not be abused. Kava is the future of this country. This country depends on kava.

I think it is high time that we, policy makers assist in preparing the enabling environment to facilitate trade and business in the kava trade.

I think the general economic trend would see a quiet large increase of the pricing of kava locally between the islands into the urban centres in Port-Vila and Luganville and also in the export market. The farmers will be able to make enough money out of their kava products for the first time. And we could also expect an increase of the kava price in the Nakamals (kava bars) in Port-Vila and Luganville.