Strengthening the skills of New Caledonian farmers for agriculture that is more resilient to the challenges posed by climate change
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has trained New Caledonian farmers in the use of TAPE, a tool for agroecological performance evaluation.
As part of the support for the agroecological transition provided by PROTEGE, a project, funded by the European Union, the training organised by the Pacific Community (SPC) was a first for New Caledonia.
Training was carried out from 3 to 7 July 2023 by an FAO officer from Rome who had helped in the development and deployment of this tool.
It brought together officials from various local authorities and professional agricultural organisations in New Caledonia.
At the end of the week, participants were able to assess the agroecological performance of farms and agricultural holdings using digital tools developed by FAO. The training also included a component on processing collected data with the purpose of making recommendations for technical support and training to be implemented.
After being reminded of the principles of agroecology, participants were able to put their acquired skills into practice on two farms in the Boulouparis and Canala regions on Thursday 6 July.
The week ended on the morning of Friday 7 July with sharing between some 40 stakeholders from New Caledonia’s rural sector, SPC and the FAO representative. Discussions focused on the opportunities and process for continuing this collaboration to support agroecological transition in New Caledonia.
The training course thus bolstered the agroecology skills of stakeholders in New Caledonia’s rural sector with the goal of guiding the development of New Caledonian agriculture towards models and practices that are more resilient to the challenges posed by climate change.
Focus on TAPE: a Tool for Agroecology Performance Evaluation
There is an increasing amount of evidence showing the positive impacts of agroecology on the environment, biodiversity, farmers’ incomes, resilience, and adaptation and mitigation to climate change. These results, however, are often fragmented and very dissimilar. To meet the need for harmonised data on agroecology, FAO and a large number of partners have developed the Tool for Agroecology Performance Evaluation (TAPE).
TAPE is a tool designed to measure the multidimensional performance of agroecological systems across the different dimensions of sustainability. It applies a stepwise approach at the farm level but also collects information and provides results at community and territory scale. The tool has been designed to remain simple and require minimum information and data to be collected.
TAPE evaluation by training participants on a farm in La Foa
TAPE evaluation by training participants on the farm of Patrice Moasadi, a farmer in Canala.
TAPE evaluation by training participants on a farm in La Foa
TAPE evaluation by participants of the on-farm training of Patrice Moasadi, farmer in Canala.
