An integrated research and extension collaboration between 3 Pacific universities has helped to strengthen biosecurity and plant health for agriculture-dependent countries in the region.
The ACIAR-supported program, which ended in March this year, has built on an earlier initiative – plant health clinics that worked directly with farmers. The newer project provided revamped university curriculums designed to equip agriculture graduates with biosecurity and plant health research and extension skills.
Fiji National University (FNU), the University of Goroka (UOG) in Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands National University (SINU) came together under an ACIAR-supported project to mount a coordinated defence against increasing pest and disease threats.
Multiple training pathways
As one of the key project participants, Dr Lilly Sar from UOG pointed out that the threat to crops and food security from pest insects goes beyond borders.
She said the initiative has embedded plant health knowledge and training at different education levels, which would ensure the benefits for crop productivity and to rural communities can be sustained.
‘For example, UOG has developed 4 capacity-building pathways under this project – training for agriculture teachers, training in agriculture extension for undergraduate and postgraduate students, specific biosecurity and plant health training for extension officers, and also training and support for lead farmers,’ said Dr Sar.
‘Lead farmers are influential and will have an important ongoing role that the universities will also continue to support.’
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The project has been aided by biosecurity and curriculum-development specialists from Australian universities.
Project leader Professor Michael Furlong from the University of Queensland said the aim was to equip the next generation of agriculture graduates with key plant protection skills.
He said increased trade and movement of goods and people, plus potential climate change impacts, were increasing biosecurity risks for neighbouring countries, and for Australia. This was compounded by a lack of on-the-ground expertise in the Pacific region to identify, diagnose and resolve pest or disease incursions.
‘We have also needed to address the disconnect between biosecurity research and local extension, and to raise awareness at government level that a crop pest or disease incursion needs to be given the same priority as natural disasters,’ said Professor Furlong. ‘The outcome for a farming community that loses its crops to a pest is little different to it losing its crops to a cyclone.’
Professor Furlong cited a current serious challenge in Samoa where the Asian citrus psyllid – one of the world’s most destructive citrus pests – has become widespread. It is not known how or when the incursion happened and there are fears it may already be undetected in other Pacific region countries.
‘So our objective has been to develop a whole new framework for integrating research, education and biosecurity training which, through the universities, is also localised,’ said Professor Furlong.
