Seven-hundred and forty-nine trainers for trainers in West Sepik province were trained in cocoa and vanilla cultivation under the EU-STREIT PNG Program, recently.
EU-STREIT PNG extended its technical assistance to remote rural areas by upscaling their knowledge and skills to mentor, guide, and monitor an extended number of farmers on cocoa and vanilla cultivation’s best practices in the province.
The trainers underwent a 12-day Technical Assistance (TA) mission include two main sections covering theory sessions to introduce the new concepts and methods, and hands-on demonstrations to deepen the practices bestowed during theory sessions.
EU STREIT PNG TA mission held learning sessions on vanilla cultivation in four LLGs in Aitape/Lumi and Nuku districts in West Sepik Province. 416 vanilla farmers, including 45 women and 141 youths, from 124 cluster groups received training which includes the theory on vanilla cultivation, husbandry, harvesting, and curing, as well as the practical demonstration on vanilla pollination, management, and processing techniques.
While 333 farmers were trained on cocoa cultivation including 40 women and 55 youths, from more than 100 cluster groups across three districts of Nuku, Aitape/Lumi, and Vanimo/Green in the province. They were trained with the opportunities to learn and practice low-cost cocoa bud grafting techniques.
“ToT is a facilitating mechanism to offer sustainable and durable technical support to the communities that have limited access to resources and expertise,” explains Dr. Rabi Rasaily, an FAO Senior Agriculture Officer.
“With conducting follow-up missions, assessing and offering complimentary training, we can make sure that the knowledge and skills vested with ToTs, are institutionalised and are well accessible to the demanding people,” he added.
ToTs aims to enable a limited number of attendees to take what they learn to their villages and communities and help their colleagues, neighbours, and other farmers in their vicinity to adopt new cultivation techniques,” said Dr. Pavel Burian, Deputy Programme Coordinator for EU-STREIT PNG.
