In the framework of the project ‘Promoting Nutritious Food Systems in the Pacific Islands’ (Innov4AgPacific), the ACP-EU Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA) in collaboration with the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the Pacific Islands Private Sector Organization (PIPSO), is organising a 4-day event that is comprised of several workshops:

1. The Pacific AgriHack Lab – ICTs from Farm to Table (download the programme)
2. The ‘Tonga National Roundtable – Developing Local Food Crops and Fisheries Value Chains: A National Action Plan’ (download the programme) and
3. The ‘Innov4AgPacific Learning Journey –  Accelerating Transformative Change in Nutrition Sensitive Value Chains in Pacific Island States’ (programme pdf can be found here)

in the Kingdom of Tonga on the main island Tongatapu.

The three workshops will kick-off on Tuesday 4 December with a plenary Official Opening Ceremony and catalyst speeches in digital financial services, Non Communicable Diseases (NCD) policy, women in ICT, climate change resilience, that aim to tackle the most pressing question: “How can we effectively transform nutrition-sensitive local food crops and fisheries value chains for increased incomes and improved health outcomes of Pacific Island Communities?”. Highlights during the events are an ICT Innovations Exhibitions, the Pacific Agrihack Pitching Day and field visits to Tongan community projects, processing facilities as well as farmers and fishermen e.g. MORDI Tonga Trust – another IFAD project, which has successfully pioneered the  bottom-up approach to community engagement.

Download the Official Opening Ceremony Programme here

Content

The event will bring together representatives of producer/farmer/exporter/community-based organisations, small and medium-sized enterprises, digital technology experts and start-ups, financial institutions and government ministries in the fields of finance, nutrition, ICT the private sector and community projects, with the ultimate goal to strengthen the capacity for change to innovate and effectively engage in nutrition-sensitive value chain development from a multi-stakeholder public-private-producer angle.

The Pacific Agrihack Lab Event is the climax of a competition to identify and further develop existing or new ICT applications for agriculture and agri-business/value chain development in the Pacific. Training sessions will be held that focus on the facilitation of access to finance, investment, improved business and technical opportunities including IPR considerations.

During the Tonga National Roundtable national actors from various sectors will validate the national action plan on agribusiness and value chain development and identify key country specific actions for influencing policy and regulatory frameworks and mechanisms, and attracting additional funding for supporting sustainable public-private-producer partnerships for agribusiness and nutrition sensitive value chain development.

Participants from the project’s seven target Countries (Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, and Vanuatu) will take part in the Innov4AgPacific Learning Journey and will be exposed to a transformational learning opportunity to improve knowledge, practice and behavior and build regional alliances in support of value chain development in Pacific Islands States. The workshop will end with discussions on the way forward to ensure scalability, replicability and continuity of Innov4AgPacific post project interventions.