FUTURE OUTLOOK Background
Current situation
Agriculture has been one of SPC’s core programmes since the organisation’s inception. With direction provided by meetings of the Pacific Heads of Agriculture and Livestock Production Services (PHALPS), and later HOAFS and Ministers of Agriculture and Forestry (MOAF), and guidance by CRGA, the focus of the agriculture programme’s role has significantly broadened from crop protection, animal health and quarantine to also include crop production and soils management, animal production, genetic resources, forestry and agroforestry (since 1997), land use policy and planning, and more recently, trade. PICT agriculture ministries have always seen the services provided by LRD as essential to complement their own, given the limited technical and financial resources at their disposal. Emphasis on plant protection support has broadened from border control and strengthened pest and disease control to include biosecurity and trade facilitation. Over the last five years LRD has built a strong information, communication and extension outreach capability and capacity that has enhanced impact of its interventions at national community levels.
With the corporate initiative of moving services closer to, and engaging more directly with, beneficiaries through JCSs, having a strong integrated regional service comprising professionals in diverse thematic areas backed by an effective outreach service is crucial. In addition there are services that can only be effectively provided regionally. For example, conservation of, and ability to further develop, the region’s genetic resources for food and agriculture cannot effectively be undertaken at the national level (without regional support) or by any other regional or international agency. Work to integrate the Agriculture and Forestry programmes started in 2004 following the review of LRD in 2002. The new divisional structure has been in place since 2005 and has developed into a sustainable delivery mechanism under LRD’s integrated system. LRD’s thematic and support areas structure represent the core services provided by LRD to the membership. The foci may vary over time, thereby influencing resource allocation. Crucial in LRD’s ability to have a positive impact, is its ability to maintain key positions (professionals who double as coordinators) in the division’s organisational structure. Other key personnel (professional positions absent in most member PICTs, such as plant pathologists, entomologists, veterinarians) need to be maintained for the long term.
Cycle-5 taro breeding lines now available Exciting new Cycle-5 taro lines now available from the Centre for Pacific Crops and Trees (CePaCT) are the result of the efforts of the Samoa-based Taro Improvement Programme (TIP). TIP is a participatory varietal selection and breeding programme that was initiated by the AusAID-funded Taro Genetic Resources: Conservation and Utilisation (TaroGen) project. Since the completion of that project, the programme has been successfully managed by Tolo Iosefa, the TIP Coordinator. TIP is a collaborative venture with SPC, USP and Samoa’s Ministry of Agriculture. The Cycle-5 lines are particularly interesting as they are the first crosses between taro from the Pacific and taro from southeast Asia, which was made available through the EU-funded TANSAO (Taro Network for Southeast Asia and Oceania) project. There has been excellent feedback on these taros from Samoa, and now thanks to the collaboration between USP and SPC, and the facilities and expertise made available by CePaCT, the lines are in tissue culture, have been tested for viruses and are available for trial by the region.
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LRD • ANNUAL REPORT • 2009
Cycle-5 lines have been planted and evaluated by TIP farmers and have now spread all over the islands. These taro lines are a smorgasbord of genetic diversity with different shapes, vigour and colour. Farmers have named the C5-clones talo lautaamu (leaves like taamu, Alocasia sp.) or laui’ila (shiny leaves). Some lines produce yellow corms (characteristic of varieties from Malaysia). However, the feedback on taste from TIP farmers is that many still long for the real taste of Taro Niue. Cycle-5 has provided the opportunity to backcross to Niue, with Cycle-6 using first generation Niue BC and Niue BCF1, and Cycle-7 using Niue BC-1. The search for the Holy Grail of taro, taro with Niue traits, continues for Mr Tolo Iosefa and his highly successful participatory taro improvement programme (TIP).