Policy on the agriculture extension services in Solomon Islands 2011-2015.

The Policy on the agriculture extension services in Solomon Islands is a national policy with a sectoral approach. The timeframe of this Policy is 5 years between 2011 and 2015. The purposes of this Policy are to meet the increasing and changing needs of rural farmers in the country, to enable the agriculture development in the rural communities and thus ensuring economic stability, food sovereignty and improved rural livelihood.
Extension services will be improved to provide need- and demand-based knowledge and skills to rural men, women and youth in a non-formal and participatory manner, with the objective of improving their quality of life through the promotion of agriculture based developments. Agricultural know-how and skills will be enhanced for increased farm production in order to increase farmers' incomes. The existing extension organization will be strengthened in accordance with the assessments on farmers’ needs. To this end, the human resources in the Agriculture Extension Services will be developed to meet the requirements of farmers and other stakeholders in the agriculture sector. The operational linkages and partnerships will be strengthened between extension and other relevant service institutions, relating to research, marketing, environment, commodities, farm inputs, rural credit, agricultural education and training, farmer associations, and information technology. Moreover, major food security related global developments that could affect rural livelihoods will be oriented by the extension staff. Farmers will be empowered for strengthened organization. The participation of all stakeholders will be promoted to improve the provision of agriculture extension services in the country, as well as taking a proactive role in advancing this policy. Agricultural extension organization will be funded to enable the effective and efficient service for the extension, education and training needs of men and women farmers. The types of farmers and their extension needs will be identified, including subsistence farmers, commercial farmers, HIV/AIDS-affected farmers, mountain farmers, atoll farmers, small islands farmers, farmers with physical disabilities, women farmers, part-time farmers, rural youth, special interest groups of growers, and rural landless poor.