Social Sciences

Improving agricultural development opportunities for female smallholders in rural Solomon Islands

Project code

SSS/2018/136

Program

Social Sciences

Budget

AUD 875,000

Research program manager

Dr Jayne Curnow

Project leader

Dr Deborah Hill, University of Canberra

JAN 2020

2021

DEC 2024

Project status

Legally committed/Active

Overview

This project aims to facilitate opportunities for equitable and effective agricultural development for Solomon Islands female smallholder farmers and their families.

Female smallholder farmers in rural Solomon Islands face barriers to access to agricultural training, community decision-making and economic development. This project will adapt the Family Farm Teams (FFT) approach (ASEM 2010/052 and ASEM 2014/095), to another Melanesian context, the Solomon Islands to assess its applicability for scale out in the Solomon Islands and other Pacific Island Countries, and will examine opportunities to improve agricultural livelihoods for female smallholders and their families.

The FFT approach has successfully assisted female smallholders and their families in Papua New Guinea to improve their family livelihoods by developing an equitable and effective ‘family business’ approach to their farming activities.

Expected outcomes

Adapting the FFT approach of agricultural extension in the Solomon Islands and assessing its applicability for scale out in Solomon Islands and other Pacific Island countries.
Discovering how socio-cultural factors, including gender and the concept of family, are relevant in adapting the FFT gender-based approach to agricultural development in three Solomon Islands districts.
Understanding the issues and lessons from adapting the Papua New Guinea FFT approach to the Solomon Islands and how these lessons can inform scale out of the FFT approach within Solomon Islands and to other Pacific Island Countries.