5 March 2012: The Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) has announced that a pilot plant health clinic will be tested in Solomon Islands, and if successful, scaled up to include other Pacific Island countries. The pilot project is carried out under the framework of the “Strengthening Integrated Crop Management Research in the Pacific Islands in Support of Sustainable Intensification of High-Value Crop Production” project, which is funded by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) with regional activities coordinated by SPC.

The project aims to build sustainable capacity to develop integrated crop management (ICM) strategies in order to support the sustainable intensification of high-value crop production for export and domestic markets in the Pacific Islands. High-value crops include tomato, eggplant, chilli and bele. The project will identify ICM strategies, including alternative approaches to pesticide use.

Under the pilot project, farmers will be able to take sick plants to the plant health clinic for a diagnosis and recommended treatment. Solomon Islands was identified for the trial because of its extensive range of available supporting extension leaflets and reference materials. Clinics will operate in public places such as markets, and the project will train “plant doctors” drawn from civil society groups and agricultural non-governmental organizations (NGOs). [SPC Press Release]