Integrated crop management package for sustainable smallholder gardens in Solomon Islands

The project commenced in May 2007 and the inception and planning workshop was held on July in Honiara which was participated by local project collaborators from the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (MAL), Kastom Gaden Association, (KGA) Don Bosco Rural Training Center (DBTC), Vois Blong Mere Solomon (VBMS) and Farmset Limited, Inc. The planning workshop was opened with remarks from Mr. Edward Kingmele, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock, Solomon Islands. The project partners reviewed the project document and discussed the various activities based on the four objectives. From the discussions, key activities were finalized for implementation. At the end of the workshop, project partners visited the facilities of MAL, KGA and Don Bosco.

The first major activity was a participatory rural appraisal (PRA) of the three provinces on October. The participatory assessment was conducted for selected village groups in Guadalcanal plains (Honiara), Malaita (Dala and Busurata) and Makira (Kirarkira) to understand and describe the current crop management practices and major production and socioeconomic constraints of smallholder vegetable farmers. Vegetable farming system in the three islands differed slightly in terms of crops, cropping system and level of crop management. However, farmers shared common problems and experienced similar technical and socioeconomic constraints. Farmers grow a variety of vegetable types, species and cultivars. Among the prominent vegetable crops are the leafy and fruit types, while root and tuber vegetables are also important since they constitute the traditional food crops. Two systems of vegetable cropping were observed in the three islands. In Guadalcanal and Malaita, continuous cropping with short fallow period is practiced. In Makira, the traditional slash and burn or shifting cultivation is common. Fallow period lasts from two to seven years in Makira, while in Malaita it depends on population pressure, but ranges from one to five years. The shortest fallow period (three months) was observed in Honiara plains, Guadalcanal.

In terms of crop management, Guadalcanal and Malaita farmers use production inputs such as fertilizers and agrochemicals. In contrast, farmers in Makira do not use any of the external/production inputs.

In all sites, pest and disease problems emerged as a major production constraint. Farmers in Malaita mentioned that fungal infection and insect damage are more prevalent after prolonged heavy rains followed by hot sunny days. In Guadalcanal, insect pest damage is predominant in the dry season while disease incidence is high during the wet season. Incidence of pests and diseases occurs all year-round in Makira, but higher in wet than dry season. In Makira, lack of improved seed, gardening tools and incidence of pests and diseases are the major constraints to higher productivity.

To address the major technical and socioeconomic constraints, project partners formulated recommendations that will be implemented into field activities. These include seed evaluation and variety assessment, simple technology package consisting of adaptable varieties, simple fertilizer regime and basic pest and disease management.

The second major activity was the workshop on statistics and experimental designs conducted on 16-18 April 2008. Dolores Ledesma, Statistics Specialist at the World Vegetable Center facilitated and conducted the workshop which was attended by 17 participants from collaborating institutions in Solomon Islands. Each participant received a copy of the Training Guide: Experimental Design, Analysis of Variance, CropStat. (75 pages). A CropStat software program on CD was also distributed to the participants.

The third activity was initiating vegetable variety trials in Guadalcanal and Malaita. The World Vegetable Center shipped seeds of improved vegetable varieties including sweet pepper (Capsicum), chili, cucumber, bulb onion, pakchoi, tomato, bitter gourd, eggplant, pumpkin, yard-long bean and selected indigenous vegetables. Variety trials have been initiated in Guadalcanal (Honiara Plains) by the MAL and KGA. MAL also initiated variety trials for Capsicum and Pakchoi in Dala and Busurata, Malaita Province. A greenhouse was constructed at Don Bosco for transplant production.

The project has received some publicity in Solomon Islands. A news article announcing the launching of the smallholder garden project was published in local daily newspaper Solomon Star (Tuesday, 24 July 2007). The article "Project Boost Vegetable Production" described the objectives of the project. Three project documents were prepared and distributed among project partners. These documents are 1) Inception and Planning Workshop: Integrated Crop Management Package for Sustainable Smallholder Gardens in Solomon Islands; 2) Vegetable Production Systems in Guadalcanal, Makira and Malaita, Solomon Islands: A Report on Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA); and 3) Training Guide on Experimental Design, Analysis of Variance and Crop Stat.