The use of pathogen tested planting materials to improve sustainable sweet potato production in Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea

The project HORT/2005/134: The use of pathogen tested planting materials to improve sustainable sweet potato production in Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea is led by The International Potato Center (CIP). The main partner institutions in Solomon Islands are the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (MAL) and the Kastom Gaden Association (KGA). The aim of the project is to improve food security in Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea by introducing and adapting technologies that produce consistently high yielding and nutritious crops of sweet potato, satisfying household consumption, human nutrition and domestic markets.

The project started by conducting a project launching workshop in Honiara SI February 13-15; 2007 bringing together representatives of the main partner institutions in Solomon Island, Papua New Guinea, Australia and CIP. The program of the workshop included an update on installed regional institutional capacity, a review of project activities for the first year, assignment of institutional responsibilities and a chronogram for execution. Participants gave presentations as background information sharing previous knowledge and committing efforts to those areas better suited to their institutional capacities. Special attention was given to discuss the main factors limiting sweet potato production in the Solomon Islands. The outcome of the workshop was an agreed work plan for the first year which was reflected in the Minutes of the Planning Workshop containing technical and administrative aspects.

Soon after the workshop the project contracted the services of a local recruiting company to launch the search of a local coordinator for the project in Solomon Island. The position was announced in a local SI newspaper in April based on the terms of reference prepared at the lunching workshop in Honiara. Applications were accepted until mid May and a shortlist of two candidates was identified and reviewed by a selection committee of CIP in consultation with the two main local partner institutions in SI. The successful candidate was Mr. Lawrence Lionel Atu who was appointed Local Project Coordinator in the Solomon Islands on July 25. Mr. Atu holds a Bachelor Degree in Agriculture from the University of the South Pacific (USP) in Apia, Samoa. He has many year of experience as an Agriculture Field Supervisor in the Solomon Islands Plantation Limited of Commonwealth Development Corporation (CDC). The local project coordinator is responsible for technical and administrative matters of the project in the SI and will facilitate collaboration between the Department of Agriculture and Livestock (DAL), Kastom Gaden Association (KGA), and farmers.

A local CIP Office was established in Honiara on July 16 in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (MAL) and Kastom Gaden Association (KGA). The office is located at Solomon Islands Development Trust (SIDT) in New Chinatown, Honiara, in room 10, neighbouring several international and local NGO's like the WWF (8), Adolescent Reproduction Health (9), Green Peace (11), Vois Blong Mere Solomon (12), Civil Society Network (14), and Village Eco- Timber Enterprise (17). A single telephone line linked to the internet was installed on September 9, two months after the service was requested.

Development of the baseline questionnaire was urgently required to describe the seed supply system in Solomon Islands. The draft was prepared based on information and recommendations recorded during the launching workshop, review of previous survey documents as well as the initial baseline survey developed by CIP for a survey undertaken in East Africa. The draft was shared with DAL, KGA, CIP-Lima and UPWARD for comments and inputs in order to adapt the questionnaire to local conditions and to refine questions and better focusing. It is expected that the local coordinator will continue to adjust the questionnaire to get the best information in an efficient way. Field testing of the questionnaire was carried out on July 23rd with farmers at St Martin and Binu villages, Guadalcanal Plains to record the information and compare the results gathered by the survey team. The application of the questionnaire took one hour and twenty minutes to complete.

Introduction of sweetpotato varieties to Australia for clean up has started by sending seventeen sweetpotato breeding lines to the Queensland Department of Primary Industry and Forestry (QDPI&F). Once this material is "cleaned" it will be eventually introduced in Solomon Islands for local trials. The clones will be exposed to thermotherapy to produce PT clones that later will be multiplied at the Regional Germplasm Centre of the Secretariat of the Pacific Community for distribution. CIP Peru has sent to QDPI&F two sets of sweetpotato clones. One set includes orange-fleshed clones and varieties rich in B-carotene. The other set is composed by 21 clones (mega-clones) with best performance and wide adaptation. These clones were sent to QDPI&F at the request of Dr. Graham Lyons who coordinates an ACIAR-funded Harvest Plus project. Sweetpotato clones from the Solomon Islands will be collected during the survey at the end of September. Ten varieties will be selected from two survey sites (Guadalcanal Plains and Wether Coast). Those chosen for PT at QDPI&F will the best in term of taste, earliness, and yield in the opinion of the farmers.

The project Hort/2005/134: The use of pathogen tested planting materials to improve sustainable sweet potato production in the Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea is led by the East and Southeast Asia and Pacific regional Office (ESEAP) of the International Potato Center (CIP), in collaboration with main partner institutions in the Solomon Islands including the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (MAL) and the Kastom Gaden Association (KGA). The overseas collaborators include Queensland Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries (QDPI&F), and the Regional Germplasm Centre of the Secretariat for the Pacific Community in Fiji. This project summary covers approximately nine months of project activity, subsequent to the initial annual report submitted in September 2007.

The first objective of the project and primary focus of project activity during the period has involved the description and evaluation of sweet potato seed supply systems in Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. In the Solomon Islands component, initial progress against this objective has included the employment of a project coordinator and volunteer technical assistant in July 2007 and February 2008 respectively.

A comprehensive desk study to review existing literature and additional work on sweet potato in the Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea (providing valuable data for the workshop to plan the seed survey) was then undertaken.

A workshop to plan and design a survey (including questionnaire) to describe the seed supply system in Solomon Islands was conducted. Following this, a two-day workshop for training surveyors was completed including means of practical application for testing the questionnaire. A survey of sweet potato seed systems across Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands, was then conducted allowing for meaningful recommendations for integrated crop management (ICM) improvement, including seed supply. This process has allowed for varieties of sweet potato with desired characteristics to be identified for pathogen testing (PT). In association with the KGA final moves are now being made to establish an absolute collection of sweet potato varieties from this selection which will be sent for clean up at the Queensland Department of Primary Industries and Forestry (QDPI&F).

The QDPI&F sent a representative to the initial project workshop held in Honiara in February 2007. QDPI&F has collaborated with the project team to introduce plant material from CIP into Australia with the aim of having it pathogen indexed during the life of the project.

The clones will be exposed to thermotherapy to produce PT clones that will later be multiplied at the Regional Germplasm Centre of the Secretariat of the Pacific Community for distribution. Once this material has been "cleaned" it will be re-introduced in Solomon Islands for local trials.

The second project objective is to introduce, refine and disseminate technologies for improved sweet potato production for small holders practising low-input agriculture. Progress against this objective has included planning and preparation for the establishment of "net houses" (igloos) to be used for evaluation centres for later sweet potato propagation. Areas for the establishment of these structures are being arranged in association with KGA and MAL, respectively. Further progress towards the successful establishment of these centres has included advertisement for field technicians to monitor and regulate procedure in and around these sites. KGA and MAL have both initiated a process for recruitment of two technicians respectively.
The third project objective involves the development of participatory methodologies to deliver ICM programs for sweet potato in the Solomon Islands. To progress against this objective, the need to recruit a trainer of trainers (ToT) expert in the Solomon Islands has been identified with the goal of setting up a farmers field school (FFS) and training curriculum. Initial steps towards this include participation in surveys to better understand local farming risks and opportunities.