Pacific Women in Agriculture issue a strong outcome statement

Port Villa, Vanuatu -Over 50 women and men farmer leaders, partners and stakeholders from ten Pacific Islands gathered for the inaugural Pacific Women in Agriculture Forum in Port Villa yesterday. The one-day workshop organized to support Pacific women in agriculture ended with an outcome statement, which is attached in full detail.

The outcome statement called on government and development partners to actively support women farmers in the Pacific to ensure that their rights are protected. It also called for allocating dedicated funding for farmers organisations focusing on leadership and management capacities to run specific women’s spaces with their male counterparts in farming organisations.

There is a need to strengthen women’s involvement in enterprises and farmers organisations that add value to their products. A provision of project guidelines was also asked for, that underlines affirmative action for women in project design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation and farmer-friendly project reporting formats.

Afamasaga Toleafoa, Chairman of the Pacific Islands Farmers Organasation Network(PIFON), stated that ‘women play a very active role in the agriculture sector and it is important to inspire and empower them’.

The workshop we have organised will provide an opportunity for participants to hear from informed people and further discuss how to better deal with challenges like food security and climate change, he added.The workshop was funded by the International Fund for Agricultural Development under the MTCP II project for farmer organisations in Asia and the Pacific.

Ends

For more information or queries regarding the workshops please contact Ms Emele Duituturaga on – Email emele@piango.net / M:9991864 or Kyle Stice Email –manager@pacificfarmers.com