New opportunities for Pacific growers

 THE Pacific islands are facing a number of region-wide challenges, including the effects of climate change, degradation of ecosystems due to unsustainable use of land and marine resources, and the need to generate livelihoods to maintain populations in the islands. 

Increased consumption of imported, highly refined foods, accompanied by decreased local food production and consumption, is having serious effects on the health of island populations. 

These are serious challenges for the region and among the large donor and government projects focused on these issues there is a group of dedicated passionate organic farmers who are working hard to combat these challenges themselves.

The Pacific Organic and Eth­ical Trade Community, or POETCom as it is known, was originally established as a technical committee by the Secretariat of the Pacific Community to develop the Pacific Organic Standard (POS). 

The POS was adopted as the official regional organic standard by the heads of agriculture and forestry in the region in 2008 and it has become well recognised internationally through its acceptance into the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movement (IFOAM) family of standards, which sets the benchmarks for organic standards worldwide. 

The POS was the third regional organic standard in the world and the first to have regulations that relate specifically to climate change mitigation and adaptation.  

In 2010, the name POETCom was adopted and the organisation evolved from an appointed technical committee to an inclusive membership-based umbrella organisation and the peak body aiming to promote organic and ethical trade movement in the Pacific Islands region. 

The SPC hosts the POETCom Secretariat in its Suva offices.  

Karen Mapusua, POETCom coordinator said, “POETCom arose from the belief that traditional organic farming practices when strengthened, coordinated and shared will meet the changing needs of our region and peoples and carry us forward into the future. Our members, largely farmers groups, are working hard to achieve our vision of ‘Pacific Organics and Ethical Trade – the key contributor to sustaining our cultures and communities, improving farmer livelihoods, people’s health and the environment in the Pacific’.” 

In the Pacific region, organic production is both traditional and new. It is traditional in the sense that the majority of producers to this day use tried and tested practices handed down from generation to generation that are generally in harmony with the environment and with modern organic principles. 

And it is new in that Pacific countries and territories are starting to understand the benefits of certification for obtaining access to external markets, negotiating fairer trading partnerships, and the need for research and training to develop the sector and generate much needed livelihoods for their people.

Addressing the certification issue became a priority for POETCom in 2013 when POETCom moved to initiate the Pacific Organic Guarantee Scheme, to provide relevant certification options for Pacific organic producers based on the POS. This includes participatory guarantee schemes and third party export certification.  

The aims of this scheme are to identify organic products from the Pacific clearly on the shelf through the “Organic Pasifika” branding and, over time, build an awareness of the amazing array of organic products available in our region and develop trade in organic products between the Pacific Islands and further afield. 

PGS are low-cost locally ma­naged organic certification schemes designed to build farmer capacity through exchange and peer review and to provide a credible guarantee to consumers that the product they are buying is really organic. 

There are small but exciting developments already with PGS established in New Caledonia and French Polynesia and three more in development in Fiji and Kiribati. Products being sold include fresh fruit and vegetables, honey, local nuts, sugar made from coconut toddy and virgin coconut oil. Export certification is being developed in collaboration with three partner certifying agencies, Biogro NZ, Bioagricert and the National Association of Sustainable Agriculture Australia (NASAA). 

Organic exports from the region are growing steadily with some of the success stories including virgin coconut oil from Vanuatu, and spices and coffee from Papua New Guinea.

NARI director-general and long-time POETCom member, Dr Sergie Bang believes there are great opportunities and untapped potential for Pacific organic products. “So far we haven’t really developed our local nuts or essential oils from our traditional plants and these both have great potential in international organic markets. 

“The market for certified organic essential oils is one of the fastest growing of the organic market segments. The other area is in dried fruit – the organic markets are there, they are higher value and it helps us deal with the challenges of bio-security and logistics of fresh exports. To develop these we need research and development and strong partnerships between donors, communities, governments and the private sector,” Bang said.