PIRAS launch promises greater opportunities for impacted farmers

15 Dec PIRAS launch promises greater opportunities for impacted farmers

Government of Tonga with Partners launched the Pacific Islands Rural & Agricultural Stimulus Facility (PIRAS) established to minimize impacts of COVID-19 on livelihoods and food security of rural households throughout the Pacific including the Kingdom of Tonga. PIRAS is a regional initiative that covers the Kingdom of Tonga, Fiji, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and Kiribati. The Facility objective is to support economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic in the Pacific, through improved income generation, food security and nutrition for rural communities.

PIRAS investment in Tonga T$1.5 over a period of 1 year.

We have stepped into a critical decade where the impacts of climate change are causing devasting effects on the livelihoods of the rural population. These rural households depend on agriculture, fisheries and tourism for economic livelihoods. The drastic changes in our natural environment coupled with the colossal losses in the tourism sector has severely hampered the potential of many to fight poverty.

PIRAS is regional initiative made possible through the collaboration of the Government of Tonga, International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)’s and the Australian Government. PIRAS will be implemented by MORDI Tonga through the Tonga Rural Innovation Project II and also will run parallel to economic recovery efforts by the Government of Tonga across Tongatapu, ‘Eua, Ha’apai, Vava’u and the two Niua’s.

The guest of honor Minister of Finance Hon. Tevita Lavemaau spoke to the importance of partnerships.

“…the cornerstone of this initiative is developing and sustaining strong partnerships at various levels – partnership at the community level where peer learning will be encouraged; partnership at the enterprise level between rural farmers and the private sector; partnership at the agency coordination level between government and non-government actors, including the private sector, and producer organisations; and partnership at the strategic level between government and development partners.”

He also noted that in order to make transformational contributions to make Tonga’s food systems sustainable and provide good and adequate foods and nutrition for all, cooperation is fundamental.

“As the COVID-19 pandemic has taught us, it is only through harnessing our efforts collectively as one, do we have a greater chance of mitigating the negative impact from the pandemic, recover the losses we have borne over the past 2 years, whilst building more resilient systems that provide more sustainable livelihoods for our peoples in the future.”  

The initiative in Tonga will build upon post-harvest handling and access to markets through the establishment of key permanent roadside vendor stalls equipped with washing and storage facilities as demonstration sites. Other activities include provision of equipment that will assist farmers with post-harvest capabilities, capacity training as well as addressing gaps in policy for market/roadside market vendors. PIRAS will also work towards engaging women and youth, which aligns with mandates of MORDI Tonga and national development priorities. By increasing quality and quantity of agricultural input, the initiative hopes to boost agricultural productivity, create restorative processes to livelihoods; build community resilience to climate change and challenges of COVID-19.