Traditional Farming Techniques in Vanuatu

Teouma Bush

Vanuatu land is an island nation with a relatively small land area and population. Only one third of the total cultivable land is presently farmed. Transport services, both inter-island and intra-island are a major constraint to marketing and this to increasing productivity and the volume of production. The Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing sector accounts for around 15% of total GDP and for almost all merchandise exports.
Vanuatu is still agriculture-based economy with copra, cocoa, kava and cattle continuing to dominate the sector. Since 2003, the agriculture sector has grown at an annual rate of 3.3 percent compared to 2.8 percent growth for the economy and an average population growth rate of 2.6 percent per annum.
The domestic market for agricultural products is quite limited. While at least 80 percent of the population reside in the rural areas and depend on agriculture for their livelihood, productivity, particularly in the traditional crops sector, is quite low. The export of high value specialty commodities, particularly those that are organically grown, represents great potential. In order to increase the penetration of premium niche markets by these commodities, however, the volume of production must be increased. The challenge in agriculture is to increase production and productivity and improve marketing systems and market access for both traditional food crops and high value specialty commodities.

Vanuatu posses soils and climate that are conducive to timber production and environment in the world for raising beef cattle. The challenges for this sector will include ensuring replanting of trees at a rate at least equal to the volume being harvested; to foster the utilization of additional species; and to develop additional value-added processing. Developing a sustainable forestry sector will depend on attracting investors for developing larger commercial timber plantations.

Vanuatu Youths to Take On Organic Agriculture
Organic agriculture is a farming system that relies on working closely with the ecosystem without reliance on chemicals to increase yields or manage weeds and pests.  Organic agriculture is also one of the areas attracting young farmers in the pacific islands and worldwide. Against the backdrop of an aging farming population in the Pacific, organic agriculture has been identified as a means to get more young Pacific Islanders involved in farming.

The Community of Teouma, Teouma Futuna (Iarofa Cultural Village) have constructively used organic potential to implement an agricultural site to practice traditional farming with a solid Youth-led activities running on every Saturday to enhance youth knowledge in Agriculture.  This existing

Traditional Food Preservation Practices

youth organization was called the "Iasoa Faakaufou Association" in which most youths are citizens from Iasoa Village on The island of Futuna. The organization has strong  Christian relations and believes in Christianity with  a large support from their elders in the village.

Iasoa Faakaufou Association was born since the year 2000 in an alert cooperation among youth citizens from Iasoa community living in Port Vila to raise funds to support the Island Community with food and materials after cyclone GENE pass the Island. In the meantime, a solidarity of committed youths started to developed and capacity building pulling all young citizens from Iasoa who lives in Port Vila to form a committee and to show support to the generations of Iasoa people back in Islands.

In the Meantime, compare to other community in Futuna do not have the opportunity in holding together their youths as this community. The Youths practices a lot of generated activities within years that passes and later the year 2013 has deflects their reactions to implement agricultural practices using an agricultural organic from small subsistence farming for climate change adaptation and to generate income from a small land space.

Activities
In particular, the youth have undertake a lot of activity in a land area of 8 acres square meters bought by the Community of Iasoa in the South East of Efate island called "Teouma" Area. On January 2013, youths of Iasoa started this new program of agriculture which they firstly clear land for gardening but still using traditional farming techniques. This has brought them to realize very low yield of their products from cultivation and decided to change cultivation methodologies from a shifting culture to adapt to the changes.

Inter-cropping (Mix Cropping)
This technique have been practice from our ancestors since agriculture has begin from the existence of new crop varieties that has been introduce by explorers to our Islands. However, more than half of the population of Vanuatu still maintains this cultural practices and

Alley Cropping
This is a technique to allow root crops to have good


TO BE CONTINUE>>>>>

Climate Change and Agriculture in Vanuatu

Teouma Bush Pilote Site, East Efate, Vanuatu

One of the most urgent and serious issues facing Vanuatu is the negative impact of Climate Change. The population living in rural areas depends heavily on Agriculture and most people found in Vanuatu lives in the rural settlements with food production a key livelihood activity.

Since our program’s inception in Vanuatu, we have tried to expand the participation of young farmers in the agricultural sector, specifically through training's and workshops to build up knowledge and capacity.
As all Pacific Island Countries (PICs) are already experiencing the negative impacts of climate change, especially as these countries are of the most vulnerable to 
environmental hazards and often have insufficient adaptation resources. Sea‐level rise, changes in precipitation patterns and rising temperatures are causing secondary impacts of coastal erosion, salt water intrusion, cyclone damage, pest and disease outbreaks, water insecurity and declining agricultural production. 

According to the 2009 population census, 76% (176,816 people) of Vanuatu’s population are based in rural areas and practice

Vanuatu, Teouma Futuna Pilote Site

traditional agriculture to provide for their dietary needs and income. Traditionally, root crops (yam, taro, manioc (Kasava), sweet potato and plantains) are a fundamental part of Ni-Vanuatu diets and have been for the past 2,000 years. These foods are generally used because of their ability to withstand weather extremes, pests and other destructive situations, but there are still challenges being faced today.  Increased consumption of imported foods and population growth have resulted in a decrease in the 
cultivation of these crops and therefore, some methods of production that were used in the past to deal with climate extremes have been lost. As climate and weather 
patterns change, the food security of Vanuatu is increasingly vulnerable. 

The Asian Development Bank reports that “With projected temperature increases, heat tolerance thresholds to crops are being reached which induces heat stress, wilting and crop failure. Subsistence crop production is falling as a result and in turn threatens food security.” Changes to rainfall in Vanuatu are impacting agricultural production, in addition to future projections of;

• decreasing overall precipitation
• extreme rainfalls during storm events
• increase evaporation and
• more pronounced dry season

The people and community of Teouma are leading the way 

in the use of innovative agricultural practices for adapation. 

One farming system for adaptation is alley

Alley Cropping Trial Technique

cropping. 

Gliricidia trees are intercropped with dwarf beans followed 

by root crops in the second rotation. Trial plots are 

cultivated with different techniques for comparison e.g. 

with/without weeding, with/without mulching, soil nutrient 

improvement etc. to establish best practice conditions for 

growth, quantity, quality and climate tolerance. The trees 

provide protection from extreme wind events, reduce soil 

temperature and sun exposure, and also help to keep the 

roots moist. This is in addition to the normal benefits of 

using leguminous Gliricidia as a soil enriching plant.

One of the staple diets of Ni-Vanuatu people is island 

cabbage but this crop often fails first with heavy rain and 

drought events. 

+30 Varities of sweer potato

The community in Teouma is working to 

establish the most hardy and productive local varieties to 

withstand extreme rainfall, drought and heat by on-farm 

testing 30+ different types of island cabbage and 

monitoring their growth and productivity. 

Research by VARTC (Vanuatu Agricultural Research & 

Training Centre) on Santo has led to new varieties of yam 

and kumala that are now trialled in Teouma to identify 

climate change resilient varieties suitable for the local area. 

20+ different kumala species from different areas of 

Vanuatu have been planted to establish the most suitable 

one for local climatic conditions and extreme events. 

These changes influence agricultural planting, maintenance and harvesting methods, as well as the production capability of agricultural systems. Intense rainfall events during planting seasons damage seedlings, water-log soils, reduce growth and provide conditions that promote the development of plant pathogens, pests and diseases. The SPC-GIZ program is working with Vanuatu’s Department of Agriculture and Rural Development to test and trial specific adaptation methodologies in farming communities. 

On Efate, SPC-GIZ has initiated pilot activities in the Teouma Community. At the end of this project, farmers in the Teouma Pilot Site should have increased understanding of: 

•  climate change predictions and forecasts 
•  climate change impacts on agriculture 
•  weather patterns and their impact on agriculture (agrometeo training) 
• techniques to improve soil fertility 
•  techniques to improve agriculture production in times of heavy rain and drought 
•  methods to identify resilient crop varieties for continuous planting 
•  techniques to minimize wind damage to crops 
• techniques to rapidly propagate and multiply resistant varieties 
• agriculture business management (farming as a business training module) 

The program is currently focusing on the identification of varieties of kumala, cabbage and yam that respond well to local climate change impacts, as well as alley cropping farming practices for climate resilience