The Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (MAL) through the World Bank Funded Solomon Islands Agriculture Rural Transformation (SIART) Project is empowering young professionals with practical exposure in the agricultural sector.
By empowering and training Young Professionals and other stakeholders, the project aims to build a stronger, more resilient, and sustainable agricultural sector in the Solomon Islands.
The Young Professionals program is one of SIART’s successful initiative with 43 young professionals recruited as junior extension officers to assist Agribusiness Producer Organisations (ABPOs) and link with MAL offices in Guadalcanal, Malaita and Makira/Ulawa Province.
ABPOs are groups of farmers and agribusinesses who work together to access markets, financing and support service with the aim to increase farm production and help farmers sell more products.
SIART Program Manager, Mr William Okekini said the young professionals are proving to be an effective addition to the MAL Extension service to assist ABPOs implement their business plan activities.
“These graduates are significantly boosting the capacity of provincial MAL offices to support ABPO development, business plan implementation, recordkeeping, and grant monitoring.
“The young professionals are also building a new generation of trained agricultural workers for the Ministry and the country as a whole,” he said.
Before deployment to their respective work areas, the young professionals receive training in a wide range of topics, including cocoa agronomy, farm management, pest and disease management, and post-harvest processing.
They also received training in areas like record keeping, financial management, and marketing.
Ms Veronika Alawai, from Basikana Island, looks after three ABPOs in the northern region of Malaita Province involving in cocoa and coconut farming and production.
She said it is a valuable experience working as a young professional for the project.
“I have developed new skills especially in working together and communicating with our farmers here in north Malaita not to mention the capacity building opportunity it has provided and experience in terms of conducting trainings for our farmers and setting up work plans for our ABPOs.
“As an agriculture graduate, working with the project is very helpful as further down my career I will be able to utilize the abilities and qualities that I have developed from working as a young professional,” Ms Alawai said.
Veronica wants to help as many farmers as she can in the rural areas.
“This is because many of our farmers are struggling to get support and trainings to develop their farms, so this is what motivates me, to support and work with many more farmers going into the future,” she said.
Ms Ruth Maeabulo works with four ABPOs in West Kwaio, Malaita Province and she is happy the project is very helpful for farmers in her region and that they are already a small income for their families.
“The community is already benefitting by earning a small income from labour provided to build their own infrastructure thanks to support from the SIART Project.
“For me personally, working as a young professional is also about developing my own career as an agriculture officer as I learn new things every time I go through challenges and how I overcome these challenges.
“My aim is to secure a permanent job with the Ministry of Agriculture after this project, but for now I’m happy I’m able to help my own communities here in Malaita Province through my profession,” she said.
Apart from gaining valuable exposure to the agricultural sector, SIART also provides these young professionals with the long-term goal of creating opportunities for full-time employment with the Ministry of Agriculture.
The SIART Project’s objective is to increase agricultural production and improve market access in selected value chains in Guadalcanal, Malaita, and Makira/Ulawa. Additionally, the project ensures a prompt and effective response in the event of an Eligible Crisis or Emergency.