If current positive tourism trends continue, the Islands in the Pacific region are expected to net nearly US$4 billion (€3.58 billion) of revenue from tourism by 2019.
In order to explore these opportunities for increasing rural revenus and improving local health by promoting agribusiness linked to the tourism sector, a three-day event being staged in Fiji by the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA), the Pacific Private Sector Organisation (PIPSO) and the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC). The Agribusiness Forum themed Linking the agrifood sector to the tourism-related markets, will run from July 1 to 3 as part of the Pacific Community Agritourism Week, being held in Nadi from June 29 June to July 3 this is according to a press release issued by CTA dated June 30th 2015.
According to the statement, this is the first such event to be held in the Pacific, the Forum is part of a CTA strategy to encourage agribusiness for island communities in ACP regions as a source of sustainable development. Many of these face similar challenges, including declining revenues from agriculture, small-scale economies, remote locations that are vulnerable to climate change and a strong reliance on imported food, with negative repercussions on local health and revenues.
“The Agribusiness Forum, which is being jointly organised by CTA, PIPSO and SPC, will investigate the scope for sharing knowledge and experiences between small island states in the Caribbean and Indian Ocean and the Pacific regions, as part of the Intra ACP Agricultural Policy Programme, of which CTA is a key partner,” says CTA in the release.
It adds that a major focus of the Forum will involve finding ways to boost agribusiness by linking local production to the rapidly developing growing tourism industry. The meeting will address how to fill knowledge and data gaps in the agribusiness sector and will identify the support needed to strengthen links between the various actors in the value chain – small-scale farmers, processors, finance institutions and tourism and hospitality sector officials.
Products with strong potential for driving growth in the agribusiness sector of the Pacific region include food sourced from local crops, livestock and fisheries, as well as beverages, crafts, cosmetics, flowers, ornamentals and essential oils. Other income generating opportunities include agritourism accommodation, farm and vineyard tours, visits to agricultural processing and plantation activities and agriculture fairs and festivals.
“CTA is delighted to host this Forum with SPC and PIPSO. The Forum will highlight successes in strengthening links between the agriculture and tourism industries in the Pacific region, especially with the aim of promoting local sourcing and decreasing the huge import bill of most countries in the region,” says CTA Director Michael Hailu in the release.
“The meeting will analyse and discuss successful business models in linking agriculture and fisheries to the tourism industry for improved market access, local income generation and regional trade.”
Adding fresh spice to the event are celebrity chefs Shalesh Naidu, Colin Chung and Robert Oliver who will be interacting with farmers and other chefs at the event which is also featuring private sector representatives, policy-makers, researchers and international development practitioners attending the Agribusiness Forum includes sessions on opportunities for the Pacific agrifood sector in tourist markets, linking fisheries to tourist markets, strengthening agribusiness information and collaboration with development and financial partners.
CTA has promised that success stories and lessons learned will feature strongly at the Forum, which will also present an agrifood trade display, a buyer-seller exchange and cooking demonstrations by top chefs using local products.
A significant group of Malawians including myself have been selected to be part of a team of young social reporters supported by CTA and SPC will be producing daily blogs on the Fiji event.
With the global nature of life today, Malawi has a lot to benefit from insights into Agritourism from the event. Such information is expected to position the nation’s food and hospitality industry to be able compete favourably with other players in Agritourism across the world.
For more on AgriTourism see and remember to follow the news and discourse on the Pacific AgriTourism Week on Twitter #PacAgriTo
- http://brusselsbriefings.net/
past-briefings/building- resilience-of-sids-through- trade-agribusiness/linking- agriculture-to-tourism- markets-in-pacific - http://blogs.cta.int
- www.cta.int
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