Tonga Agriculture Sector Plan 2016-2020.

The need for the Tonga Agriculture Sector Plan (TASP) was identified as part of Tonga’s national planning process. This Plan is expected to identify the Kingdom’s vision and priorities for maximizing contributions from the agriculture sector both to its economic growth and to sustained food security in the face of a changing world economy, looming climate change, and natural disasters in the Pacific. The Plan is also expected to: (i) articulate specific programmes and activities which are required to achieve sector priorities; (ii) clarify the roles and responsibilities of the different sector stakeholders; (iii) estimate investment needs; and (iv) provide a framework for measuring progress over the short- and medium-terms.
It is based on designing groups of activities (Programmes) which will achieve the following four strategic objectives: Strategic Objective 1: Develop a climate-resilient environment (establish the foundation for climate-resilient agriculture systems. Its three specific objectives are to: (i) develop baseline knowledge for sustainable management of soil and water (for agriculture); (ii) develop climate-resilient guidelines and indicators for diverse farming systems; and (iii) build capacity for climate-resilient agriculture (diverse farming systems and adaptive communities) to impact on Strategic Objective 3.
Strategic Objective 2: Improve the enabling environment for agriculture (influencing and controlling sector efficiency and growth).
Strategic Objective 3: Develop diverse, climate-resilient farming systems for the Kingdom’s islands (three specific objectives, to: (i) improve farmers’ knowledge and practices of natural resource management, and diversified crop, livestock and handicraft production systems; (ii) revitalize Tonga’s farming future and encourage young farmers to return to the land; and (iii) support farmers and handicraft producers to produce products that are marketable in local markets, can have valued added to them, and which contribute to food and nutritional security).
Strategic Objective 4: Increase and sustain rural incomes across the Kingdom (The TASP has an underlying principle of not over-emphasizing agricultural exports at the expense of providing adequate support for the development of Tonga’s domestic agriculture sector).