THE Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (MAL) yesterday has officially opened its new small scale mechanization facility at the Taiwan Technical Mission (TTM) farm near King George, East Honiara.
The opening of workshop facility is dubbed as historic under the project “Enhancing Productivity of Land and labour through Small Scale Mechanization for Subsistence Farmers in Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands.”.
Witnessing the official opening yesterday morning was the Minister Duddley Kopu, Permanent Secretary Jimmy Saelea, European Union (EU) representatives, other NARI representatives, MAL senior officials, SICA rep, TTM rep, RDP advisor, General Manager of CEMA and local farmers.
“This is a historic occasion to witness the opening of this small scale mechanization facility under the project “Enhancing Productivity of Land and labour through Small Scale Mechanization for Subsistence Farmers in Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands,” Minister Kopu said.
“We are thankful to PNG-NARI for its contribution to the project in terms of resources including funds and management coordination.
“Also let me place on record our since appreciation to the European Union for the funding accorded for this project or action,” he said.
He said that this is one of the six collaborative projects that Solomon Islands, PNG and Vanuatu have partnered in implementing since 2008 funded by EU.
“It is obvious that PNG, Vanuatu and Solomon’s are benefiting from the assistance that donors such as the EU provided to support the agriculture sector in capacity building, climate change, biotechnology and farm mechanization.”
Kopu also took time to thank the key technical staff from government, NGO’s, RTCs and private sectors who work tirelessly to see the project facility come into fruition.
“It takes cooperation and collaboration to achieve goals.”
EU funded the workshop facility.
By STEPHEN DIISANGO
