Regional summary

The agriculture, fisheries, forestry and tourism sectors are of vital economic importance to the Pacific region. The agriculture sector underpins livelihoods for a large proportion of the region’s population, which is dependent on subsistence production, and also accounts for an important share of the export earnings for many countries in the region. The high dependency on certain subsectors, however, makes relatively weak economies vulnerable to external economic shocks, natural disasters, environmental degradation and impacts of climate change. These vulnerabilities have restricted the development of commercially oriented agriculture, fisheries and forestry and limited their contribution to economic growth.

Each ACIAR partner country in the Pacific region is confronted with constraints to agriculture. These are major challenges to sustaining food security and commodity export incomes and supporting vulnerable groups, especially the rural poor, women and youth. While many of these constraints are shared with other countries, they can affect an individual country (or islands within countries) differently, depending on the local context. Some of the main shared challenges are:

• continued population growth
• urbanisation and labour migration
• low or stagnant agricultural production and yields
• land tenure and use
• skills gaps
• inadequate government investments in agriculture
• increased dependency on imported food
• environmental degradation
• market access.

Additionally, countries in the Pacific region face intense competition in international markets for agricultural exports, and income from most of these products is not growing. Strengthening the environment for private sector development within the agriculture sector remains an important challenge for industries and governments.

The Pacific region is also contending with the implications of a triple burden of acute hunger, malnutrition and a high prevalence of nutrition-related diseases. The falling productivity of domestic food production and the increasing availability of cheaper food imports has led to increasing dependence on imported food and dietary transition towards food that is high in salt, sugar and fats. This has led to an increase in conditions such as diabetes, heart disease and micronutrient deficiencies.

Weather and climate have a major influence on the agriculture sector in the region. Natural disasters (such as cyclones, floods, droughts, earthquakes and tsunamis) are a regular event. Current climate projections suggest that extreme weather events (such as heatwaves, droughts and floods) are likely to increase in frequency and intensity, and projected rainfall and rainfall patterns are likely to create problems for the region. Extremely high tides and storm surges continue to threaten low-lying islands and continued sea-level rise may contaminate fresh groundwater.

Despite these challenges, there are many reasons for optimism in the Pacific region. Sustained investment in capacity building over decades has resulted in a growing network of highly skilled, motivated and influential researchers within the region. They underpin ACIAR research collaborations and address the many common elements within each of our partner-country development strategies. These include:

• strengthening policy, legal and regulatory frameworks
• increasing agricultural productivity and food security
• decreasing food imports
• improving nutrition and diets
• sustainably developing aquaculture and fisheries
• improving marketing and export performances
• enhancing sustainable resource management
• developing human capacities.

Drivers of regional collaboration

There are many bilateral and multilateral development partners who provide substantial assistance to Pacific island countries. To ensure this assistance translates into sustainable development gains, priority must be given to better coordination and harmonisation of support between development partners.

For ACIAR, working through a regional approach presents an opportunity to identify complementarities and improve coordination of development resources, based on respective comparative advantages of different organisations.

ACIAR-supported projects in the Pacific region are mostly regional, rather than bilateral, except for our program with Papua New Guinea, where projects are mostly bilateral. While acknowledging individual country-partner needs and research and development priorities, the scattered geographical nature of the Pacific region and small populations mean that several countries cannot address all their challenges and opportunities in agriculture alone.

ACIAR has a strong focus on enabling regional collaboration, especially through our close relationship with the Pacific Community (SPC) and we will develop a new strategic partnership with SPC in 2020–21. While our program focuses on nine countries in the region, SPC plays a key role in communicating research outcomes of relevance broadly across the region. Our support of SPC under the new agreement will assists the organisation to deliver strategic public goods in agriculture, fisheries and forestry across the region. Regional research programs and projects are implemented through agencies with regional capability, including SPC, the University of the South Pacific and CGIAR centres, and bilateral research and extension agencies.

ACIAR program in the region

As part of Australia’s official development assistance (ODA) program, ACIAR is part of a whole-of-government approach to deliver results in line with government policies.

The Pacific Step-up is Australia’s foreign policy that specifically prioritises support towards building a resilient region. The step-up responds to the significant long-term challenges faced by our partners in the Pacific, including:

• climate change and responding to natural disasters
• sustaining economic growth and boosting education, developing skills and jobs for growing populations
• pursuing gender equality and recognising the essential role of women in achieving better development outcomes
• preventing major disease outbreak
• tackling transnational crime.

During 2020–21, ACIAR will build on its long history of engagement with the Pacific region through its new 10-year strategy with the Pacific island states and Papua New Guinea, which identifies high-level priorities for the region. ACIAR is developing country-specific implementation plans in consultation with partner countries and national and regional research and development agencies. The research priorities in the implementation plans with each partner will be revisited and adjusted through consultations with the heads of these agencies every two years at Pacific Week of Agriculture and Forestry.

A key focus of ACIAR in the region is enabling more regional collaboration in research and capacity building to address common issues and opportunities, including projects addressing biosecurity, climate-resilient livelihoods and opportunities for stronger agribusiness development. ACIAR contributes to this through the way it funds regional research collaboration, through its support of SPC and through its support and chairmanship of APAARI. ACIAR is also contributing through its membership of the Pacific Week of Agriculture and Forestry working group, which aims to make this the premier event drawing global attention to agriculture and forestry in the Pacific. Pacific Week of Agriculture and Forestry provides a forum to showcase recent R&D achievements, creates opportunities for regional and international collaboration and brings together regional leaders around implications and opportunities for supporting policy.

Australia’s Partnerships for Recovery: Australia’s COVID-19 Development Response recognises that COVID-19 has had a profound impact on the region and notes that many countries:

have closed their borders or limited movement, with substantial initial success in stopping the spread of the virus. But most have a narrow economic base, and all are experiencing an economic shock. This has seen the collapse of government revenue, foreign reserves and cash balances, and the loss of incomes and livelihoods in contexts where formal social safety nets are limited. Critical industries such as tourism have effectively shut down. Most countries have limited capacity to mobilise an effective health or economic response. Some countries are at risk of debt distress, limiting their options for raising finance to respond. A number have underlying security vulnerabilities, including from the climatic threat and natural disasters. A concurrent health and economic crisis could exacerbate these vulnerabilities…

ACIAR is supporting an assessment of food system security, resilience and emerging risks in the Indo-Pacific in the context of COVID-19. This assessment is monitoring, documenting and analysing food systems vulnerabilities resulting from the COVID-19 crisis and their impacts on smallholder farmers. It will identify possible actions that could be taken by governments and other food systems stakeholders to increase food systems resilience in the face of future shocks. This assessment may influence future ACIAR investments in the region.

In 2020–21, ACIAR takes over the chair of the Global Research Alliance on Agricultural Greenhouse Gases. The alliance brings together 62 member countries to find ways to grow more food without increasing greenhouse gas emissions. Many countries already have research underway to better understand, measure, and manage agricultural greenhouse gases emissions. By linking these efforts through the alliance, we can achieve faster progress towards the solutions needed to improve agricultural productivity but reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This year, with co-funding from Australia and New Zealand, ACIAR will organise and host a Pacific regional forum on agriculture and climate change inviting representatives from across the Pacific to discuss the challenges of ‘growing more food without growing greenhouse gas emissions’.

During 2020–21, 62 ACIAR-supported projects will be active in the Pacific region (Table 5.1).

Table 5.1 Current and proposed projects in the Pacific region, 2020–21

Project title	Project code	Country
Agribusiness
Policy drivers for public–private partnerships in Pacific organics: improving extension policy through an evidence-based approach	ADP/2018/131	Fiji, Vanuatu
Pacific Agribusiness Research in Development Initiative – phase 2 (PARDI 2)	AGB/2014/057	Fiji, Tonga, Vanuatu
Crops
Developing a foundation for the long-term management of basal stem rot of oil palm in Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands	CIM/2012/086	Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands
Agricultural innovations for communities for intensified and sustainable farming systems in Timor-Leste (AI-Com)	CIM/2014/082	Timor-Leste
Managing basal stem rot in oil palm by converting infected logs to biochar	CROP/2019/147	Papua New Guinea
Fisheries
Developing pearl industry-based livelihoods in the western Pacific	FIS/2014/060	Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Tonga
Improving technical and institutional capacity to support development of mariculture-based livelihoods and industry in New Ireland, Papua New Guinea	FIS/2014/061	Papua New Guinea
Half-pearl industry development in Tonga and Vietnam	FIS/2016/126	Tonga, Vietnam
Strengthening and scaling community-based approaches to Pacific coastal fisheries management in support of the New Song	FIS/2016/300	Kiribati, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu
A nutrition-sensitive approach to coastal fisheries management and development in Timor-Leste and Nusa Tenggara Timur Province, Indonesia	FIS/2017/032	Indonesia, Timor-Leste
Institutional strengthening in Papua New Guinea: translating fisheries research into policy and management	FIS/2018/151	Papua New Guinea
Improving peri-urban and remote inland fish farming in Papua New Guinea to benefit both community-based and commercial operators	FIS/2018/154	Papua New Guinea
Agriculture and fisheries for improved nutrition: integrated agri-food system analyses for the Pacific region	FIS/2018/155	Kiribati, Solomon Islands, South Pacific general, Vanuatu
Towards more profitable and sustainable pearl-industry based livelihoods in the western Pacific	FIS/2019/122	Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Tonga
Innovating fish-based livelihoods in the community economies of Timor-Leste and Solomon Islands	FIS/2019/124	Solomon Islands, Timor-Leste
Improving nutrition through women’s and men’s engagement across the seaweed food chain in Kiribati and Samoa	FIS/2019/125	Kiribati, Samoa
Forestry
Enhancing value-added products and environmental benefits from agroforestry systems in Papua New Guinea and the Pacific	FST/2014/067	Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu
Improving agroforestry policy for sloping land in Fiji	FST/2016/147	Fiji
Enabling community forestry in Papua New Guinea	FST/2016/153	Papua New Guinea
Enhancing returns from high-value agroforestry species in Vanuatu	FST/2016/154	Vanuatu
Domestication and breeding of sandalwood in Fiji and Tonga	FST/2016/158	Fiji, Tonga
Enhancing private sector–led development of the Canarium industry in Papua New Guinea – phase 2	FST/2017/038	Papua New Guinea
Promoting smallholder teak and sandalwood plantations in Papua New Guinea and Australia	FST/2018/178	Papua New Guinea
Coconut and other non-traditional forest resources for the manufacture of engineered wood products	FST/2019/128	Fiji
Horticulture
Supporting an international initiative to maintain the coconut genetic resources network (COGENT)	GP/2018/193	Regional
Enhanced fruit production and postharvest handling systems for Fiji, Samoa and Tonga	HORT/2014/077	Fiji, Samoa, Tonga
Aligning genetic resources, production and post-harvest systems to market opportunities for Pacific island and Australian cocoa	HORT/2014/078	Fiji, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu
Integrating protected-cropping systems into high value vegetable value chains in the Pacific and Australia	HORT/2014/080	Fiji, Samoa, Tonga
Developing improved crop protection options in support of intensification of sweetpotato production in Papua New Guinea	HORT/2014/083	Papua New Guinea
Developing the cocoa value chain in Bougainville	HORT/2014/094	Papua New Guinea
Enterprise-driven transformation of family cocoa production in East Sepik, Madang, New Ireland and Chimbu Provinces of Papua New Guinea	HORT/2014/096	Papua New Guinea
Supporting commercial sweetpotato production and marketing in the Papua New Guinea highlands	HORT/2014/097	Papua New Guinea
Responding to emerging pest and disease threats to horticulture in the Pacific islands	HORT/2016/185	Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga
Safeguarding and deploying coconut diversity for improving livelihoods in the Pacific islands	HORT/2017/025	Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu
Protecting the coffee industry from coffee berry borer in Papua New Guinea and Australia	HORT/2018/194	Papua New Guinea
Enhanced fruit systems for Tonga, Samoa and Fiji (phase 2): community-based citrus production	HORT/2019/165	Fiji, Samoa, Tonga
Livestock Systems
Smallholder cattle enterprise development in Timor-Leste	LPS/2014/038	Timor-Leste
Increasing the productivity and profitability of smallholder beekeeping enterprises in Papua New Guinea and Fiji	LS/2014/042	Fiji, Papua New Guinea
Improving small ruminant production and supply in Fiji and Samoa	LS/2017/033	Fiji, Samoa
Evaluating the opportunities for smallholder livestock keepers in Timor-Leste	LS/2017/035	Timor-Leste
Sectoral analysis and investment requirements for improving the Fiji and Samoa small ruminant sector	LS/2018/183	Fiji, Samoa
Establishing the linkages between foodborne bacterial enteropathies and malnutrition in Timor-Leste	LS/2018/184	Timor-Leste
Promoting business development pathways for more productive and profitable smallholder cattle systems in Vanuatu	LS/2018/185	Vanuatu
A One Health approach to establish surveillance strategies for Japanese encephalitis and zoonotic arboviruses in Papua New Guinea (One Health)	LS/2018/213	Papua New Guinea
Drug sensitive and resistant tuberculosis and zoonotic infections as causes of lymphadenitis in three provinces in Papua New Guinea (One Health)	LS/2018/217	Papua New Guinea
Enhancing the management of antimicrobial resistance in Fiji (One Health)	LS/2019/119	Fiji
Improved animal health surveillance in Timor-Leste	LS/2019/158	Timor-Leste
Value-adding to existing livestock programs to understand and quantify the implications of greenhouse gas emissions, provide options for emissions reduction and inform in-country policy development	LS/2019/159	Cambodia, Indonesia, Kenya, Laos, Myanmar, Pakistan, South Africa, Tanzania, Timor-Leste, Vanuatu, Vietnam, Zambia
Social Sciences
Identifying opportunities and constraints for rural women’s engagement in small-scale agricultural enterprises in Papua New Guinea	ASEM/2014/054	Papua New Guinea
Improving livelihoods of smallholder coffee communities in Papua New Guinea	ASEM/2016/100	Papua New Guinea
Climate-smart landscapes for promoting sustainability of Pacific island agricultural systems	ASEM/2016/101	Fiji, Tonga
Climate-smart agriculture opportunities for enhanced food production in Papua New Guinea	ASEM/2017/026	Papua New Guinea
Improving agricultural development opportunities for female smallholders in rural Solomon Islands	SSS/2018/136	Solomon Islands
Gender equitable agricultural extension through institutions and youth engagement in Papua New Guinea	SSS/2018/137	Papua New Guinea
Landcare—an agricultural extension and community development model at district and national scale in Fiji	SSS/2019/140	Fiji
Soil and Land Management
Better soil information for improving Papua New Guinea’s agricultural production and land use planning—building on PNGRIS and linking to the Pacific Regional Soil Partnership	SLAM/2019/106	Papua New Guinea
Optimising soil management and health in Papua New Guinea integrated cocoa farming systems	SMCN/2014/048	Papua New Guinea
Soil management in Pacific islands: investigating nutrient cycling and development of the soils portal	SMCN/2016/111	Fiji, Kiribati, Samoa, Tonga, Tuvalu
Water
Closing the loop between agriculture and wastewater discharge: a novel technique for turning wastewater into fertiliser in the Pacific	WAC/2019/135	Kiribati, Vanuatu Tuvalu
Climate Change
Climate change and Pacific food systems: decision-making for transformational change (proof-of-concept)	WAC/2019/148	Samoa, Solomon Islands
Conservation agriculture and sustainable intensification of smallholder farming systems in Pacific countries as a pathway to transformational climate change adaptation and reducing greenhouse gas emissions	CROP/2020/185	Fiji, Samoa
Supporting greenhouse gas mitigation for sustainable farming systems in the Asia-Pacific and East Africa	WAC/2019/150	Fiji, Indonesia, Kenya, Vietnam

Notes: More details (including project leader, commissioned organisation and partner organisations) are provided in the appendixes. The project list was compiled during July 2020. Additional projects, not listed in this table, may be commissioned during 2020–21.