August 2016
Soil conditions for ginger being explained
Pacific Island Farmers Organisation Network (PIFON) member, the Fiji Crop and Livestock Council (FCLC) implemented a Ginger Value Chain training supported by PIFON and with funding through the EU SPC-PAPP project. This training was held on 20th July – 21st July, 2016 at the Coral Coast Christian Camp in Pacific Harbour and included field visits to nearby farms and Kaiming Agro Processing facility.
Ginger farmers from the Naitasiri, Rewa, Tailevu and Serua Provinces were invited to participate in this training from which they gained knowledge of the value chain mapping process and got a clear understanding of the stages and the actors that contributed to the ginger value chain in Fiji. Stakeholders also benefitted from the opportunity to interact directly with each other (farmers, buyers, exporters, MoA etc.)
Ginger farmers have always raised issues that the ginger price at the farm gate is very low compared to the market price overseas. The value chain training session with stakeholders helped to highlight what each actor in the value chain contributes and their relative ‘share’. This type of analysis and discussion is critical for addressing some of the misinformation regarding margins for various actors.
Other important areas for discussion during the training focused on the link between environmental and economic sustainability so that farmer and exporters realise that sustainable agriculture practices are required to preserve the fertility and integrity of the land for the years to come. This also ensures that they can make money from farming this land.
Providing specific technical training to strengthen the ginger association and its members is one of the pillar services that FCLC provides to its Commodity Associations. This joint FCLC-PIFON activity has provided a good framework for how this type of training could be extended to other associations.