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Samoa, Fiji, Niue and Vanuatu account for about 25% of the land area on the southwestern edge of the Polynesia-Micronesia Biodiversity Hotspot and are home to 28% of the endangered plant and animal species. In recent years, FAO has been helping to protect ecosystems here through the Forestry and Protected Areas Management (FPAM) project under the Global Environment Facility Pacific Alliance for Sustainable Development (GEF-PAS). The FPAM project aims to strengthen biodiversity conservation, reduce forest and land degradation, and enhance sustainable livelihoods for local communities. As part of the project, three community conservancies were established in 2016 on the Samoan island of Savai’i to protect unique highland cloud forests. So far, this investment has paid off for Savai’i’s environment and local farmers.
FAO is working with the Samoan government to support three community conservancies in eight villages on the island of Savai’i. The conservancies aim to protect biodiversity and maintain ecosystem services in primary forest reserves, mainly in the highlands. These highland forests, often called cloud forests, are at altitudes of 600 metres or more.
exist”Healthy Ecosystems, Healthy Food, Healthy People”, FAO and its partners have established demonstration farms to show farmers how to increase productivity, promote sustainable agriculture in lowland forest ecosystems, and improve people’s diets, health and incomes.
Demonstration farms in the villages of Taga, Gataiwai and Mata-Utu use tunnel houses and different types of farm equipment and organic farming techniques. FAO is working with the Samoa Farmers Association and the Women’s Business Development Association to train farmers in sustainable land management techniques.
So far, more than 120 farmers have participated in the training, which covers the application of agroforestry systems, compost preparation, green manuring and crop rotation, organic pest management, contour planting and other measures to avoid soil erosion.
Women’s Committee
In Taga, the demonstration farm is managed by the village women’s committee. Fruit and vegetable varieties grown on the farm include Chinese cabbage, eggplant, pepper, okra, lettuce, water spinach, papaya, watermelon, green pepper, tomato and banana. In addition, root crops such as taro and yam are distributed to the community, and fruit trees such as Tahitian lime and rambutan are planted.
Women’s groups actively worked on the demonstration farms, directly benefiting from the newly learned techniques. Many participants applied the same knowledge to their own farms, growing a wide variety of fruits and vegetables using seedlings from the demonstration farms.
New methods and alternative crops to benefit families
Notoa Sione, a local farmer in Taga, used to travel long distances to the highlands to grow taro. “Growing taro this way is very time-consuming and very hard work,” he said. He now owns a farm consisting of several large plots of land close to his home, where he grows a variety of greens, tomatoes, eggplants, peppers and cabbage in addition to taro. He also supplies suppliers in the area.
Sione noted that compared to taro, Chinese cabbage grows faster and has a higher yield, which brings higher income to him and his family. He is grateful for the project and the knowledge and techniques he has learned, and has now set up his own nursery to grow seedlings and then transplant them to his farm.
Lemalu Sami Lemalu, FAO Samoa FPAM project coordinator, explains that farmers cultivate taro in the highlands by clearing native forests that grow on fertile soil. This farming method destroys both the forest and its ability to store and filter water. With the loss of protective forest cover, soil erosion and flash flooding disrupt local water supplies, sedimentation of protective coral reefs, and negative impacts on fisheries.
Instead, the FPAM project showed farmers ways to grow a variety of vegetables and fruits in the lowlands, closer to home. These new methods not only helped farmers’ health and nutrition, but also brought in additional income. Importantly, they did so without destroying the upland forests that are vital to the island’s ecological balance.
See positive growth and results
Farmers on Savaii have produced approximately $115,000 worth of crops since the project began in January 2016. Although the farmers consumed most of the produce themselves, they still managed to sell $67,000 worth of crops.
Ultimately, they are all able to grow nutritious food sustainably and profitably.
Creating protected areas in the Pacific
The FAO/GEF FPAM project covers Samoa, Fiji, Niue and Vanuatu. Its global environmental objectives are to enhance biodiversity conservation and reduce forest land degradation in these countries.
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