Breaking Barriers, Protecting Borders

The magnitude of the work and effort it takes to protect our borders every day is often lost on many of us. For Sylvie Boulekouran, Jeffline Tasale, and their fellow counterparts working in biosecurity, it is a lifelong commitment to ensuring Vanuatu’s natural resources are safeguarded from the threat of emerging pests and diseases. It’s a commitment driven by passion and pride for their country and one that is also significantly breaking barriers in terms of gender equity, empowering women, and building their leadership capacity.

In a three-day training session hosted by Biosecurity Vanuatu from 23–25 September 2024, 20 participants—8 women and 12 men—gathered at the Plant Health conference room in Port Vila to strengthen their skills in identifying pests and diseases. They were health officers, border biosecurity officers, and biosecurity interns.

A standout feature of the training was the leadership of female trainers, Ms Boulekouran and Ms Tasale. With their years of experience in agriculture and biosecurity, the women took the initiative to design and lead the training. Their leadership not only demonstrated the importance of women in agriculture but also emphasised the role of women as role models in a traditionally male-dominated field.

The training covered critical topics in plant pathology [1] and entomology [2] while equipping officers with the knowledge to recognise pests and diseases affecting Vanuatu’s agricultural sector. Participants praised the training’s relevance to their roles, highlighting its impact on their pest identification abilities and inspection methods.

Pesticide officer Herwit Aru Benua said he learnt a lot. “In pathology, I learnt about diseases affecting plants, how to recognise the disease triangle (host, environment, and pathogen), the symptoms affecting the plants, and that some insects transmit diseases to healthy plants. In entomology, I learnt about different insect orders, their life cycles (incomplete or complete metamorphosis), feeding mouthparts, and which part of the lifecycle is best to manage.”

Biosecurity Officer Angelo Cyriaque said he learnt how to use the Pacific Pests, Pathogens, and Weeds app. He also gained practical skills in using diagnostic tools, such as lenses and microscopes, to improve pest diagnosis. Participants were also able to apply their learning in a practical session, examining pests they had collected from local farms. This training was particularly valuable for interns who were midway through their 12-month border placements, as well as for new recruits, strengthening their skills for future pest inspections.

Environmental Science graduate and intern Florida Nare learnt about the different types of pathogens, the symptoms they cause on plants, and how to recognise them. “I have learnt that to better recognise them, we have to grow them in media cultures. For entomology, I have learnt about the different feeding damages that insect pests can cause, such as sucking plant sap, ovipositing in fruits (e.g., fruit fly), and insect vectors being excellent in transmitting disease or pathogens,” she said.

Notably, the training in Vanuatu is a spin-off of the European Union-funded Safe Agriculture Trade Facilitation through Economic Integration in the Pacific (SAFE Pacific) project’s Plant Pathology and Entomology Training of Trainers (TOT) workshop, which took place in July 2024 and was attended by participants from all 15 countries involved in the project. The TOT was developed and delivered through a strategic collaboration between the Pacific Community (SPC), as the implementer of SAFE Pacific, New Zealand's Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) Plant Health and Environment Laboratory (PHEL), and the University of the South Pacific (USP). As a direct result of their participation in the TOT, Ms Boulekouran and Ms Tasale successfully replicated the training for officers from Biosecurity Vanuatu, fulfilling a key activity in Biosecurity Vanuatu’s Business Plan.

Ms Boulekouran shared that, as women trainers, their contributions underscored the value of diverse leadership and the positive impact that empowered women can have in transforming agricultural practices and communities.

“We can be seen as role models for young generations of women in agriculture, especially for girls and young women who aspire to pursue careers in a traditionally male-dominated field. We demonstrate that women can excel in agriculture and effectively lead such initiatives,” she said.

Through their self-driven efforts and commitment to capacity-building, Sylvie Boulekouran and Jeffline Tasale have set an inspiring example of how local leadership can transform agricultural practices and enhance the sustainability of biosecurity initiatives in the Pacific region. Their success highlights the value of diversity in leadership, showing how empowered women can drive meaningful change in agriculture and biosecurity while ensuring biosecurity officers are always prepared to respond to emerging biosecurity risks.

[1] Science and study of bacteria, viruses, fungi, and nematodes that cause diseases in plants.

[2] Science and study of insects and related arthropods.

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