Government Set To Launch Historic Agriculture 10-year Growth Strategy

The government through the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (MAL) will launch the country’s first ever Agriculture Sector Growth Strategy and Investment Plan (ASGSIP 2021-2030) on Tuesday 19th October, 2021.

Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare is expected to launch the agriculture roadmap to coincide with the celebration to commemorate this year’s World Food Day that will be staged at the Justice ground at Town-Ground in Honiara.

Cabinet has approved the strategy lately this year after it went through series of nationwide consultation in the provinces since 2019 and sequence of consultations with government line ministries and stakeholders for final ratification in 2020 and this year (2021).

Permanent Secretary of MAL Ethel Tebengi Frances previously said ASGSIP 2021-2030 is the first ever Solomon Islands Agriculture roadmap that will guide the country in development of the sector in the next ten years.

“MAL as a government agency overseeing agriculture sector only facilitate support and create conducive environment for the sector, to thrive through development of policies and laws including regulations but the actual delivery is done by all who participated in agriculture activities. There are also laws hosted by other government agencies that impact on agriculture activities. Therefore, it is only meaningful that we all have a plan that sets out collective interventions to meet national targets in this national agriculture strategy.

“Now that the strategy is approved by cabinet, MAL now looking forward to support the government by implementing it to improve the livelihood of our people, create economic activities and build our country and so I am confident this 10-year roadmap is a conduit where we can better facilitate collaborative efforts by all players in the agriculture sector,” Ms. Frances said.

The formulation of the strategy was supported by the International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD) and Food and Agriculture Organizations (FAO) of the United Nation and the Solomon Islands Government/MAL.

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