Friday 22 November 2013

ORGANIC CERTIFICATION TEAM FOLLOW UP VISIT TO CICIA

Date : 5th  to the 12th of November

Sakiusa Tubuna-ifad ,PA LAU,PAO EASTERN MERE SALUSALU,PGS CONSULTANT CHRIS MAY

Phase 1 was the intro - register the villages and train the farmers in basics of organic standard and PGS responsibilities

Phase 2 (this trip)
- We will need a review meeting with the key stakeholders (COMA) for them to report progress and ID issues they need addressed.
-Followed by a check what has been done (physical site checks referenced against the documentation from Cama); -Specific training to help build Cama's skill base (in the areas where there might be gaps in what has been done already); -Training for Cama and the PGS committee in handling paperwork and making decisions.

- Next I want to introduce the peer review process whereby we inspect villages against the PGS operating requirements( we will document the outputs from this process). (Peer review doc - we havent fully decided on our approach yet so after discussions we will fine tune the doc,translate and print there). We will need a plan for  visiting each village.May not do every village that will depend on time.

- Once complete I will prepare a report on progress to date and a forward plan for next few months - this will be presented to the COMA committee.

Along side all this we have the coconut quality standards to prepare and present (I will dev these at a handson processing meeting with the women - this serves as a training also. AND we have the supply chain considerations re transport, market etc. The market is in Suva so we will need to look at the dynamics of the market to help guide Cicia on packaging and pricing. This all then links to a business plan. WHEN can we do this market visit in our time schedule??

Timing for each day - we need to be flexible but as long as I have Cama 100% of the time then we should be able to cover everything in the week but when we inspect the villages ALL the registered farmers must be there.

Thursday 21 November 2013

LiveStock Survey

An update on Livestock Test and Surveys
Livestocks in the 5 villages of Cicia have been tested with tuberculosis, this test will be mainly in regards for the Organic status and standards. 5 staff came to do this test on October and it went successful and we are waiting for the results as we are looking forward in the certification of Cicia as Organic and mainly livestock test and survey plays a vital role in it.

Sunday 27 October 2013

Cicia Organic Monitoring Agency

In June this year the school(CICIA HIGH SCHOOL) hosted officers from the Secretariat of the pacific community (SPC) led by Steve Hazleman,PGS Consulatant from POETCom(Pacific Organic and Ethical Trade Comunity)Christopher May and Mrs Mere Salusalu the Principal Agriculture Officer-Eastern.
They had for the signficant breakthrouh of Cicia being declared sa an organic islandThe concept of Cicia being declared organic had been floated around since 1986 when discussions around the "tanoa" led by Epeli Draunidalo centered around the need to reflect on the call by the Prophet Daniel for humanity to constantly draw from the gift of nature.
The idea developed and materialised in 2006 when the Tikina Council formally placed a ban on chemicals and non organic material and manure.With state support from Mrs Salusalu,Cicia has been transformed with the retention if traditional farming methods and practices.
With the declaration in place,the island is now focusing on the formal certification phase due to be completed in a few months time.Following the declaration with and by the leaders and people of Cicia, an interim committee was set up known in short as COMA to oversee all sapects of organic development.
The island is fortunate to have received the assistance from SPC funded by the International Fund for Agriculture Development(IFAD)coordinated in Fiji by Mr Sakiusa Tubuna and which works together with IFOAM- International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements.
The organic development not only benefits Cicia from having access to health products and ensuring sustainable develpoment,but also the economic potential that arises out of this.These benefits are slowly materializing and we offer special acknowledgement to the stakeholders of this important development.

Wednesday 18 September 2013

WEB 2.0 Training for Pacific Youths in Agriculture

This week I was blessed to be part of the delegates who were chosen from all over the Pacific to come to the training. Web tools are important in this technology revolution and we Pacific Islanders are still learning to be up to par with the world.

Cicia Island has been declared Organic by POETCOM which is Pacific Organic Ethical Trade Community which has facilitated in the island certification.

This blog will be a voice of the Cicia Organic Monitoring Agency (COMA) and the organic farmers of Cicia Island to showcase and promote our organic products to the world. Below are some pictures of current products available and if you wish to further clarify or enquire please contact us through our contact form, and we will get back to you ASAP.