Australian High Commission
Papua New Guinea

Speech 070430 ARDSF

 

Launch of the Agricultural Research and Development Support Facility

 

30 April 2007; Airways Hotel, Port Moresby, PNG

Australian High Commissioner to PNG, HE Mr Chris Moraitis

 

Greetings Secretary for National Planning, Mr Valentine Kambori; Secretary for Agriculture and Livestock, Mr Anton Benjamin; Dr Ghodake; Directors and CEOs of the National Agricultural Research System institutes; Mr Tyrie, Facility Manager; ladies and gentleman.

It gives me great pleasure to be here today at the launch of the Agricultural Research and Development Support Facility – ARDSF - a new five year program from the Australian Government through AusAID which will assist PNG’s primary agricultural research and development institutions improve services to the farming community.

In PNG, where the majority of the population lives in rural areas and depends on subsistence, semi-subsistence and cash crop production, agriculture offers great potential for improving rural incomes and livelihoods.

Agricultural research can make an important contribution to productivity improvements, provided it is well-targeted and responsive to the needs of farmers.
Increased agricultural productivity through improved technologies and related innovations can have immediate benefits to farming communities, the entire agricultural sector and the economy at large.

Australia has been supporting agricultural research in PNG since 1998 through its contribution to the National Agricultural Research System - otherwise known as ACNARS.

ACNARS has, for the past nine years, helped to strengthen the capacity of Papua New Guinea’s National Agricultural Research Institute (NARI). The project made a valuable contribution towards making NARI a competent and well-managed research and development institute capable of contributing strongly to the goals of Papua New Guinea as set out in the MTDS.

The new Facility will continue to focus on capacity building and institutional strengthening but will now include the broader range of agencies that comprise the National Agricultural Research System, including:

- the Cocoa and Coconut Institute;
- the Coffee Industry Corporation;
- the Fresh Produce Development Agency;
- the National Agricultural Research Institute;
- the Oil Palm Research Agency and its sister body the Oil Palm Industry Corporation.

The goal of the support facility is to enable these organisations to deliver improved services to their rural stakeholders. This will be achieved through capacity development in the two areas of institutional governance and service delivery.

I am delighted that the new arrangement will see a significant increase in Australia’s contribution to the agriculture sector. Between 1998 and 2006, - a total of nine years - Australia provided over 50 million kina for ACNARS. Under the ARDSF, we are contributing nearly 90 million kina over five years.

In conjunction with the Government of PNG’s recent financial commitment of 100 million kina per year for ten years to implement the National Agricultural Development Plan, the ARDSF provides a powerful and timely injection of development assistance into the sector.

Agricultural research and development, extension, and regulatory functions are primary services of the government. Under the ARDSF, Australia is building the capacity of the primary government agricultural institutions which fulfil this role. This is in line with National Agricultural Development Plan.

Further in line with the Plan is the Agricultural Innovations Grant Scheme (AIGS), which, I’m pleased to announce, will continue under this new Facility.

The Agricultural Innovations Grant Scheme is a competitive grants fund aimed at disseminating innovative research to smallholder farmers. Under the ACNARS project, the scheme generated strong interest from the delivery organisations and is showing early signs of significant impact.

Under the new ARDSF, the grant scheme will be open to all interested stakeholders. This means that it will be open to provincial and local level governments, civil society organisations and the private sector. Such a scheme complements the institutional strengthening aspects of the Facility.

Australia welcomes the strategy outlined in PNG’s National Agricultural Development Plan to expand the grant scheme model to become a sustainable national system for the funding of priority research and extension activities. We look forward to working closely with the Government of PNG to realise this vision.

As we work towards this vision, it is critically important to recognise and respond to the constraints along the way. The MTDS recognises HIV/AIDS as one of the most significant constraints to economic growth, rural development and poverty reduction – acknowledging that the rapidly worsening epidemic can undermine all development efforts. Every sector must begin to actively play a part in countering the spread of HIV and supporting those affected.

One of the core objectives of the ARDSF is to mainstream gender and HIV/AIDS. However, it will be up to the national agriculture research institutions themselves to deliver on that outcome.

There are three things they can do. One: mainstream HIV/AIDS into their core business. Examples of mainstreaming could include conducting research on nutritious crops that help people living with HIV to remain healthy for longer or engaging mobile workers who lack information on the prevention of HIV. Two: put in place workplace policies, in line with the HIV/AIDS Management and Prevention Act, to protect their workers and provide support to those affected by or infected with HIV. Three: build their own internal capacity in gender awareness and gender sensitive research.

There is an urgent need to address the intimate link between gender inequality in PNG society and the HIV epidemic as well as address the long-overdue need to take full account of gender relations in research and in the work place.

Gender inequality is also listed as a development constraint in the MTDS. Despite the fact that women contribute up to 70 per cent of labour in agriculture in PNG, women continue to suffer multiple disadvantages in PNG including lack of access to land, health care and education. They have a heavy workload and are vulnerable to domestic violence.

Gender and HIV/AIDS are not issues that can be sidelined and the ARDSF will provide support for participating agencies in all three areas mentioned above.

I would like to wish you all the best for the next five years in taking the ARDSF forward. It provides an exciting opportunity for Australia to work with PNG in strengthening what is a critical sector for both improved livelihoods for people in PNG and more broad-based economic growth for PNG.

Thank you.

END