Promising results from South Pacific Cocoveneer project

Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research's Forestry Research Program Manager, Mr Tony Bartlett, traveled to Fiji last month for an End of Project Review of the Cocoveneer project (FST/2009/062).  

Spindle-less lathe in action.

PARDI market day proves huge success

Over 150 researchers, farmers, agribusiness and government representatives from Australia and across the Pacific came together in Fiji this week. The occasion was the PARDI Impact Workshop and Market Day. An event marking the completion of the first phase of the Pacific Agribusiness Research for Development Initiative (PARDI) and a chance to network, share experiences and see firsthand the impact of agribusiness research on economic and social development in the region.

ACIAR's Tara McKenzie learning about breadfruit from stallholder Livai Tora. Source: ACIAR

Fijian women take the lead on cocoveneer

ACIAR is funding innovative research and training to help Fijian scientists conduct research on how to produce high-quality veneer products from ‘senile’ coconut stems. On this International Day of Rural Women we would like to highlight this important project that is building the capacity of Fijian women and enhancing livelihoods in the South Pacific. In many Pacific Island countries there are vast areas of coconut palms  that are too old to produce fruit, which provide little use to farmers. However with ACIAR’s help, Fijian locals are developing a better understanding of how to turn unused resources into a higher value, profitable product.

Eric Littee (QDAFF) , with Sainiana (measuring veneer), Temo and Elenoa from Fiji Department of Forestry.

Photo: Tony Bartlett.

Volunteering in Vanuatu

A year in Vanuatu as an Australian Volunteer for International Development (AVID) is a great opportunity to learn more about food security issues in the Pacific, meet unforgettable people, learn Bislama and climb many volcanoes.

I had the privilege of working with several NGOs, most notably Care International in Vanuatu and Adventist Development and Relief Agency Vanuatu, on food security projects across four islands—Araki, Efate, Futuna and Malakula.
 

Fitu, a gardener and weaver from Mission Bay, Futuna, presented me with a beautiful basket that she made as a farewell gift. Photo: Bronnie Anderson-Smith

Biosecurity: international dimensions, threats and strategies

The topic of ‘Biosecurity: international dimensions, threats and strategies’ was addressed by ACIAR’s CEO Dr Nick Austin at a panel discussion hosted by the Rural Press Club of Victoria on 18 July 2014. In his presentation Dr Austin spoke about some of the significant contributions ACIAR-funded research has made to address issues of biosecurity internationally and in Australia. He also announced the funding of a new initiative to build plant biosecurity skills in eastern Africa. ACIAR produced a brochure highlighting the contribution of ACIAR partnerships with Victorian research agencies for the event.

A farmer field school in Fiji

Local breadfruit-production technology boosting Pacific industry potential

The news is good for breadfruit farmers in the South Pacific interested in small-scale commercial production. They can now have ready access to high-performing breadfruit seedlings, thanks to new technology and training on how to transplant and establish seedlings generated using a locally-perfected tissue culture system.  

Course participants learn how to transplant seedlings at the
breadfruit training, CePaCT Fiji

The training was conducted at the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) Centre for Pacific Crops and Trees (CePaCT) at Narere, Fiji, and involved local Ministry of Agriculture staff, and representatives from private nurseries and Nature’s Way Cooperative. They gained hands-on experience transplanting the sought-after breadfruit seedlings, and also learnt techniques to help ensure transplants successfully establish in the field.

Blueprint for brilliant beche-de-mer

A brand new guidebook to processing sea cucumbers is already making a splash internationally. Thanks to ACIAR-funded research aiming to improve livelihoods of village fishers in the Pacific, the booklet has been developed by project partners Southern Cross University and the Secretariat of the Pacific Community.

Fisher in Kiribati collecting a leopardfish (photo S. Purcell)

Sea cucumbers have been hand-collected and exported from the Pacific Islands since the 1840s. Once processed to a dried product known as ‘beche-de-mer’ in the food world, they are particularly popular in China, used as a key luxury ingredient of festive dishes.

Consumer is King in Fijian-Australian red papaya research

A new ACIAR project aims to boost the popularity of papaya and help improve livelihoods in the South Pacific...

Consumers’ preferences for size, shape, flavour and other characteristics of Fiji’s and Australia’s most promising red papaya varieties will be investigated in a new agribusiness/consumer profiling project.

The research will focus on consumer demand and preferences for specific red papaya varieties and help determine how best to raise the fruit’s retail and export performance. The Fijian-Australian research team hope to help industry overcome obstacles to expansion and significantly increase exports to New Zealand and other markets (i.e. Hong Kong and the USA).

Papaya is delicious! (photo: Nature's Way Cooperative Fiji Ltd)

Reaping benefits from postharvest science in the South Pacific

ACIAR Project leader Prof Steven Underhill describes how research in the South Pacific is being tailored to help boost Fiji fruit and vegetable exports

Through the ACIAR-funded Pacific Agribusiness Research for Development Initiative (PARDI), I have been fortunate to have the opportunity to work closely with many smallholder farmers in Fiji to assess their postharvest horticultural challenges and develop practical strategies to improve overall productivity. Paradoxically, while many Fijian farmers are seeking to increase exports, there has been very little attention spent on postharvest research in the region.

Prof Underhill at postharvest research trials in Fiji

As a postharvest specialist, part of my research through PARDI involves identifying why local farmers experience produce wastage and quality issues. The other part involves identifying how successful postharvest systems can be adapted to the South Pacific region so farmers can better participate in high-value markets and improve their livelihoods.

First impressions
My first impression of postharvest handling systems in the South Pacific was that of a sub-optimal system which lacks reliable infrastructure and technology. For example, packaging is inappropriate for transporting produce any distance (i.e. old boxes and sacks are used), packing facilities are limited, trucks overloaded with produce travel along rough roads, and refrigeration is non-existent.

Given these apparent postharvest limitations, improvements to postharvest practices present big opportunities to benefit local farmers. Historically, postharvest efforts have centered on introducing a concept of “postharvest best practice” from outside the region. Over the past decade, this approach has led to the construction of packing sheds and improved packaging with cool storage, and general postharvest training for farmer groups. However, I feel much more could still be done to tailor solutions to the local context and maximise benefits for smallholder farmers. 

Understanding local needs
In the current PARDI postharvest approach, we've invested time and effort into understanding why and how the existing postharvest handling systems operate before considering possible recommendations. Our goal is to really understand farmers, traders and vendors, the postharvest physiological consequence of the current handling systems, and ultimately where potential profit is lost and gained.

PARDI's postharvest research has focused on changing handling
practices, particularly with ripening tomatoes on-farm

We are very aware that the potential key research beneficiaries - smallholder farmers - are constrained by considerable livelihood disadvantages that have become endemic over time. There is little or no economic capacity for smallholder farmers to absorb mistakes, no matter how well meaning our intent. This time round we need to get it right.

Analysing postharvest supply chains
Over the last few years, along with researchers from Fiji National University and the University of the South Pacific, I have systematically analysed postharvest supply chains in the Sigatoka and Nausori regions. Our studies have looked at physical stresses and behavioural contributors that impact on overall product quality. 

We have been in the field weeks before harvest, monitored on-farm temperature and humidity conditions, assessed road conditions and transport driver behavior, undertaken numerous comparative municipal market studies, and measured market storage conditions and vendor quality grading process. Our team has used 3D mapping technology to spatially map in-carton bruising and product damage and compare different packing options for local environments. We are also currently using novel digital thermal imagery to monitor and refine on-farm ambient ripening practices (where fruit is picked and stored in available shelters on-farm to ripen). 

How it all works
Collectively, this research has provided detailed insight into how current postharvest supply chains function in Fiji. For instance, we now know that the peri-urban road infrastructure around Nausori is more likely to cause in-transit damage than the comparatively poor roads down the Sigatoka valley. Driver speed and smaller loads are the main culprits causing this damage, rather than the road quality. 

PARDI research has shown that eggplants are a comparatively
high-risk crop in terms of postharvest wastage

We know that on-farm ripening is one of the largest contributors to postharvest losses in tomatoes, and that the first few days of ripening are critical. We also know that okra, chilli and eggplant are comparatively high-risk crops in terms of producing relatively high levels of postharvest wastage. Conversely, small beans are far less susceptible to damage. 

While the common sight of overloaded trucks may be a prelude to high postharvest market wastage, we now know that in most municipal markets, daily wastage is actually a relatively low 2 to 4%. With 96% of product transported and on-sold by market vendors within 48 hours, the whole Fiji horticultural supply chain is one of fast-to-market and fast-to-sell.

Thinking through interventions
Like putting together the pieces of a large and complex jigsaw, this information is building a picture of a postharvest handling system that is relatively efficient but at the same time, very fragile. The answer to completing the puzzle is more about identifying how to improve current handling practices rather than changing infrastructure and technology. It is also about working with a complex, inter-connected supply chain that could break down if we introduce ill-considered postharvest chain interventions.

For instance, if we set out to change the stage of maturity of a commodity (e.g. how ripe tomatoes are), then in-transit damage is potentially altered. If produce is washed before packing, food safety risk may increase (depending on water quality). Likewise, if roads are improved and truck loading reduced, then subsequent increases in driver speed may cause greater product damage. If a central packing shed is used to grade and sort produce, this could potentially increase the risk of damage from multiple loading and re-loading of trucks. So, interventions need to be thoroughly thought through.

Tomato growers are reducing waste through better
postharvest handling

Achieving long-lasting impacts
What does this all mean in terms of PARDI’s influence? Is our project having a positive impact on postharvest practices? The short answer is ‘yes’!

Our approach is to present farmers with a range of practical options to empower them to make their own decisions about improving their handling practices. So far, our researchers have helped numerous groups of farmers come to appreciate the importance of postharvest handling. This has translated to tangible changes in handling practices, particularly with regard to ripening tomatoes on-farm. 

Collective problem-solving works wonders
Actively sharing information and working through alternative solutions with farmers is rewarding for all involved. We are finding this approach produces real and lasting results.

In the end, both sides learn something. Too often I think we tackle horticultural challenges by introducing answers to problems rather than collective problem solving. Engaging local smallholder farmers and their communities is the key to success.  

By Prof Steven Underhill, PARDI project leader (University of the Sunshine Coast)

More information:
PARDI web space – see under ‘Focus Areas’
YouTube clip on PARDI's postharvest work in Fiji
ACIAR's web page about PARDI

Boosting breadfruit in Fiji

Training land owners in breadfruit propagation techniques could provide a big boost for a crop that could potentially become one of Fiji’s most important food industries.

A trial of a novel approach to establishing breadfruit has given a group of young landholders the ability to propagate breadfruit plants for their own farms and for commercial sale.

Fiji farmers with breadfruit suckers (photo: Livai Tora,
Koko Siga Ltd  Fiji)

Conducted by Fiji’s own Tutu Training Center (TRTC), with funding through ACIAR’s Pacific Breadfruit Project (PBP), the initial training attracted over 100 male and female farmers from Vanua Levu villages.

Oysters opening up opportunities for Fiji communities

Engagement in the pearl farming supply chain is bringing economic opportunities and social harmony to many island communities in Fiji. Dr Chris Barlow, ACIAR’s Fisheries research program manager, recently visited Fiji and describes how...

Pearl farming is often considered big business, a rich man's game. Not so in Fiji, where communities, particularly women's groups, are increasingly involved in various aspects of the complicated animal husbandry process that ultimately leads to pearls being sold in jewellery shops around the world.

Emele (front) and Kelera (back) at J Hunter Pearls,
processing Pteria penguin oysters that have previously
been seeded for mabé pearl production. Mabé pearls
are ideal for handicraft and jewellery production,
at which Fijian ladies are particularly adept.

The first step in pearl farming involves collecting spat (or baby oysters), either from natural spawning in the open ocean, or from adult oysters spawned in hatcheries. In Fiji, the great majority of spat is collected from the ocean using "long-line spat collectors". These are basically fibrous ropes, set in the ocean for several months, onto which free-floating larvae settle and grow to juvenile oysters.

The collection of spat is not difficult, but it does require maintenance of the lines and careful handling of the juvenile oysters. Skill is required to recognise the species being farmed and then to separate them from the many other species that settle on the ropes. 

Tip-toe through the (African) tulips

Dr Richard Markham, ACIAR’s Pacific Crops research program manager, recently attended a planning workshop in Fiji on managing weeds in the Pacific islands. Participants debated the conundrum of how to deal with a species, such as the African tulip tree, that is valued by some and loathed by others...

Fiji's northern coast is dominated by introduced plant species -
some are vital economic species and some are weeds

Visitors to Fiji and other Pacific islands often admire the 'beautiful, open landscapes’ of the northern and western sides of the larger islands. Protected here from the rain-bearing trade winds, rain forest gives way to grassy hills, and orderly farms of cereals, legumes and sugarcane. Ecologically minded folk, however, realise that this landscape is created by human intervention and dominated by exotic species (introduced from other parts of the world), including crops and the weeds that arrived with them. The original forest has gone and nobody knows how many species of indigenous plants and insects disappeared with it.

A touching insight into life in Fiji

Two video clips about the Pacific Agribusiness Research for Development Initiative (PARDI) and the people it benefits have just been produced. This blog is from Communication Officer Julie Lloyd on her travels to Fiji for the filming...

How does a person feel when, for the first time, they step into a part of the South Pacific and experience firsthand, a unique environment that is rarely exposed? As Communication Officer for the Pacific Agribusiness Research for Development Initiative (PARDI) who recently visited some of the more remote and traditional farming areas of Fiji, I can say it is an eye-opening yet rewarding experience. From the minute I arrived in Nadi on a hot Sunday afternoon in August, until I departed six days later, my head and heart were bursting at the seams absorbing a country and a culture of people who do it tough but at the same time reflect a sense of pride and generosity.

Fijian boy with breadfruit at Sigatoka market (photo: J. Lloyd)

IN THE FIELD - Going loco for cocowood

Forestry Research Program Manager Tony Bartlett recently visited Fiji to check progress on an ACIAR project on coconut wood (cocowood). The research is aiming to improve the livelihoods of people in the South Pacific through making use of senile coconut trees.

Senile coconut trees can make valuable wood products

IN THE FIELD - In search of 'soil security' in the Pacific islands

Dr Richard Markham, ACIAR's Research Program Manager for Pacific Crops, recently visited Kiribati to check progress on a project aiming to improve the health of the local people and their soil...

Atolls like Kiribati may look appealing to visitors, but achieving food security
can present a serious challenge to the inhabitants, especially in the face of climate change

Top of the Crops! Top 10 nutritious leafy vegetables in the Pacific

An ACIAR-funded study on nutritionally rich leafy vegetables in the Pacific region has identified the ‘Top 10’ and produced a series of fact sheets to promote them to indigenous communities. The study’s goal is to encourage the production and consumption of these important food crops, to help combat the current epidemic of diet-related diseases in Pacific islanders and indigenous Australians.

Aibika for sale in markets in Suva, Fiji
Photo R Goebel

IN THE FIELD – Mabe, baby: Commemorating World Oceans Day

(in-country visits by ACIAR’s research program managers)

In May this year, ACIAR’s Fisheries program manager, Dr Chris Barlow, visited Papua New Guinea (PNG) to check out the progress of several fisheries projects (the inlandaquaculture project in Goroka and a mariculture project at Nago Island, Kavieng). Highlights of the trip included 'finding Nemo' and seeing some of the amazing work coming out of a pearl-development project...

Clownfish
(Image courtesy of Zelko Slamaj)