Workshop to discuss capacity building in extension

Workshop to discuss capacity building in extension

For agricultural development to be successful, Pacific Island countries and territories must build human resource capacity that will facilitate production of competitively priced, good quality agricultural commodities for both the domestic and international markets. Agriculture extension staff and associated institutions play an important role in agricultural development and trade for the local and export markets.

The Secretariat of the Pacific Community’s (SPC’s) Land Resources Division, in partnership with the Australian Centre for International Agriculture Research, the University of the Queensland and other stakeholders, is organising a workshop to develop a roadmap for building capacity of agriculture extension staff and associated institutions to meet the challenges and demands of agricultural commodity trade.

The workshop will discuss the recommendations from the first and second Pacific extension summits, which were held in 2005 and 2008 respectively, with the objective of identifying initiatives to build capacity in agriculture extension in the region.

The two-day workshop will also look at the findings of a capacity building needs assessment on Pacific extension conducted by the University of Queensland and the Pacific Islands Extension Network (PIEN).

The needs assessment identified more that 50 specific areas for capacity building for extension workers both in government and non-governmental organisations (NGOs). The two extension summits have indicated gaps in the delivery of effective and efficient service by extension staff and institutions, and these gaps hinder agricultural development in the region.

The workshop will be held on 5–6 October 2009, at the Novotel Nadi, and is being organised by SPC’s Land Resources Division.

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