National Rice Sector Policy (2010-2015)

1. The Ministry of Education and Human Resource Development, and other Education Authorities must advocate and emphasize self-reliance in rice production. This includes all boarding educational institutions (primary, secondary, tertiary (college, university, Rural Training Centers, Vocational Training Centers).

2. The following Ministries and private organizations should be the stakeholders in rice production: a) Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock b) Ministry of Infrastructure and Development c) Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Metrology d) Ministry of Finance and Treasury e) Ministry of Trade & Commerce f) Ministry of Health and Medical Services g) Local/International NGOs h) Private Sector At the provincial level the following stakeholders must be recognized and included: a) Provincial Agriculture Extension Services b) Provincial Government c) Community Based Organizations d) Tribal chiefs e) Village elders f) Youth & Women groups

3. The SIG through the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock, and Ministry of Commerce, Employment and Industries work together to set-up Rice Farmer Associations/Cooperatives.

4. Project owners’ equity contribution: It is important that project owners should contribute 20-30% of total project cost in cash or in kind to instill a sense of ownership towards the recipients towards the project, this would also ensure the sustainability of the project in the event that funding for the project comes to an end.

5. Removal of government import taxes/duties imposed on all agricultural farming inputs including all kinds of machineries needed for rice production, processing, and storage so as to make them cheaper and affordable to rural farmers. 6|Page

6. The Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock to train rice Extension and Research Officers both in-country and internationally in critical integrated rice production and development areas such as System of Rice Intensification (SRI), irrigation and farm engineering, agronomy, integrated pest management, post harvest, storage, processing, marketing, etc. In addition, recruit through bilateral agreement a qualified irrigation engineer to design and rehabilitate irrigation systems.

7. More efforts will be directed on the role of rural women in rice farming in particular so has to have gender equity and as division of labor.

8. A cheaper way of producing rice should be under taken which does not totally rely on calendar –based application of external inputs. System of Rice Intensification (SRI) holds the key for the future of rice production in Solomon Islands.

9. Issues covering the utilization of rice by-products such as rice hull, rice bran for value- addition should be pursued.

10. Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock to set rice production targets that are realistic and achievable, taking into account limited land area and manpower, and the current rice importation quantities.

11. Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (MAL) to set-up a committee to screen applications for the importation of rice, to ensure the quality and monitor the quantities of rice imported. On receiving an application for rice importation by the Quarantine Division at MAL, it should be screened by the Quarantine Division in consultation with the Rice Technical Team members prior to the issuance of the import permit(s). This mechanism will further continue to ensure that rice imported into the country is of high quality, and with this mechanism the NRRDP can also track the quantities of the rice importation into the country from the originating countries, as well as protect the smallholder interests and local rice industry as a whole. In addition, any consignment (either as processed rice or unprocessed rice), without any proper documents should be confiscated and MAL will become responsible for its proper disposal. POLICY IMPLEMENTATION This policy will be implemented in the following manner: I. Nurturing of Existing Projects Since many of the existing projects under the current NRRDP have not yet attained their full potential targets. Thus continued SIG support to overcome these limitations is essential. There are 47 existing projects that will still be continued to be supported until the potential targets are attained. Constraints will be identified and remedied. 7|Page II. Consultation Consultations between all stakeholders involved in rice production must take place. This would include both government and private sectors. The purpose is to inform all stakeholders of the policy and programs involved so that all actors can play their part to support the policy and see other business opportunities that may arise. Consultations should include:

1. Government Ministries: • All senior officials including junior staff at MAL headquarters and at provinces. This also includes representatives from various line ministries.

2. Private Sectors: • Rice sellers • Rice importers/wholesalers in the country – Solrice, QQQ Holdings, Auspac, Beauty Yuk, Harvest Pacific, Sol Ltd, Punjas (SI), etc. • Input suppliers/importers – Farmset, Island Enterprise, Tongs, SET Marketing, Harvest Pacific, etc. • Lead Rice Farmers – 2 from each province • Interested national or international companies interested in investing in rice farming in the country.

3. Statutory Bodies – CEMA, etc. III. Identification of Production Centers Rather than generalizing rice production throughout the country, it would be rationale to identify provinces that will participate in rice program considering availability of arable land, population pressure and other factors. It would be good to have guidelines and criteria for identification of suitable sites for rice production. A lad tenure system that allows for customary land to be leased would be pursued in order to open-up potential agriculture areas for rice production. This type of development can never be realized when potential land is sitting idle in some provinces due to resource owners lacking the capacity and capacity to develop their land. In such situation, a joint venture arrangement may be an option. On the other hand the land may be leased to developer, regardless of nationality to develop a commercial rice farm. IV. Determining Production Targets As a guideline the MAL should decide on whether the country is pursuing 100% self-sufficiency in rice or only a 50%. A 100% self sufficiency would only be possible if Agriculture Opportunity Areas (AOA) are developed and ex-GPL rice lands on Guadalcanal plains revisited. If AOAs are not developed then a 100% self sufficiency is not possible. Once production targets are set, then each province is allocated its production target. 8|Page V. Project Submission Each participating province is to identify and select eligible farming communities. Eligible communities are then assessed and proposals drawn-up by the Provincial Agriculture Extension Services (PAES). Once this is done, proposals are then submitted to MAL for final project compilation, and submitted for cabinet approval and budget support. VI. Inter-Ministry Consultation a) Once projects are endorsed and approved by Cabinet, MAL to liaise with other line Ministries (Ministry of Infrastructure and Development) for the arrangements and release of machineries (earth moving machines), and landing craft for transportation of machines. These machines will be used in constructing access roads and land clearing. VII. Memorandum of Understanding The Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock shall sign this document with other line Ministries and other private companies and organizations who would be engaged in this programme to make it legally binding so that obligations and responsibilities are clear towards cooperation. VIII. Road Construction and Land Clearing Most of good arable lands are located inland. Therefore to increase agricultural development for greater output, these lands must be accessed. It is important that agricultural roads (access roads) must be constructed to open-up these lands. Equally important, large developments as this and for the fact that these lands are located on primary forest, land clearing must be done by machine to speed-up development. It was experienced throughout the country that even 5 ha could not be fully developed due to drudgery of work. Economy of scale cannot be achieved in time even if a good number of manpower is available. IX. Tendering Out-sourcing of input supply is important for a timely implementation. Required inputs should be divided into several categories. Companies should bind to supply one category of input only so that the inputs arrived in time in the country. Where this is not possible, then one company can be awarded several categories. X. Disbursement of Inputs To deliver inputs in time to the projects, the MAL shall be doing charters. 9|Page XI. Training MAL to train Extension and Research Officers from the production centers (provinces), specializing in rice production to supervise rice development in the production centers. Equally important is that project managers must also be trained in business to ensure profit-making. Business areas would include: simple book keeping, simple accounting, budgeting, and price setting. XII. Rice Planting It would be economically wise and a means of pest control when the whole area is planted in a synchronized manner. Planting the whole land in one cropping season and achieving two or three crops per year would bring a higher return to the farmer as it will mean doubling or tripling the cultivated area without increasing land size. This will result in an increase in total production per year. To achieve this, again requires using planting and harvesting machines. The use of machinery is a must if this crop is to go commercial. XIII. Rotational Crops It would be advisable to plant rotational crops after the rice cropping season, to maintain farm income during the rice off season, to improve the soil structure and fertility and to reduce the infestation of pests by planting leguminous and other short term economical crops. XIV. Monitoring and Evaluation For the purpose of monitoring and supervision, PAES must post one officer to each project. Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock to include a budget component in each project budget for a staff house. Daily supervision and monthly monitoring is to be done by the project officer. Copy of this monthly monitoring must be sent to Provincial Rice Coordinators and Chief Field Officers for reporting purposes to MAL. Bi-annual evaluation shall be done by officers from MAL under the leadership of National Rice Coordinator or/and Deputy Director (Project). IMPLEMENTATION CONSTRAINTS There are several areas that can hinder the implementation of this policy. These include: I. Political-Will Any Government will very likely continue to support the NRRDP and this policy, as initial gains are clearly evident at the national scale on local rice production, and benefits to rural livelihoods. 10 | P a g e An indicator of political-will will be shown by prioritizing agriculture development as top priority backed by an increase in its national budget allocation. Government should include other line ministries and developmental partners (e.g. Ministry of Works, Transport and Infrastructure, logging companies, bilateral/multilateral funding agencies, International NGOs), to assist in local rice production by out-sourcing various activities such as access road construction, land clearing, and irrigation system construction). The government should also exempt import tax on all agricultural farming inputs so that they will be affordable by all class of farmers. II. Skill Manpower Government is to train rice extension and research officers on rice and rice-based farming techniques, as well as getting a qualified irrigation engineer probably under Japan International Cooperative Agency (JICA), Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), or other bilateral agreements. Equally important, project leaders (farmer) must be trained in business, in the areas of simple book keeping, simple accounting, budgeting, and price setting. III. Land Ownership Customary ownership always hinders agricultural developments. All semi-commercial and commercial projects should provide legal documents (court rulings) that prove ownership. Tribal/clan ownership of projects (rather than one person or family) is another option to take to minimize land disputes. IV. Manpower As experienced with the current NRRDP, manpower shortage creates problem in not fully developing or achieving potential production area. Even with semi-commercials (5 ha) clearing the full area and planting it out was never achieved. With the current NRRDP, most of the approved projects still have to complete clearing the land. Most only achieved 20% of their target (10 ha). If the country wants to see tangible results (increased production, successful projects) in a short period, selective farm mechanization using small farm machineries must be adopted. Selective mechanization ensures that farm labor is not displaced but enhanced. V. Arable Land Availability The topographical formation of our islands limits the availability of good arable lands which are easily accessible. The only accessible arable land is located on the Guadalcanal plains. Considerable amounts of good arable land, known as Agriculture Opportunity Areas (AOA), exists on the other bigger islands but are not accessible because they are located inland. The approach the government should take to increase local rice production is to: 1) adopt both semi- commercial, fully commercial and smallholder production. Semi- and fully-commercial undertakings are easily disintegrated therefore, smallholder would act as a cushion against any shocks and to open up the AOAs by construction of access roads into these lands. VI. Mismanagement Project committees must be responsible and accountable. The project committee chairperson must be someone respected and honest. 11 | P a g e TIME FRAME ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE NATIONAL RICE SECTOR POLICY (2010-2015). Policy Issues Time Taken (yr) Responsible Indicators Authority Nurturing Existing 2010-2011 Ministry of Number of successful projects Projects Agriculture and Livestock (MAL) Consultations March-May 2010 MAL Number of consultation meetings, number of resolutions taken Identification of June 2010 MAL Meetings taken Production Centers Determining June 2010 MAL, Ministry of Meetings taken Production Targets Finance, National Reform and Planning (MFNRP) New Project 2011-2012 MAL Number of new projects approved Submission Memorandum of 2010-2011 MAL Number of MOU signed Understanding Access Road 2011-2015 MAL, (Ministry Number of roads Construction, Land of Infrastructure constructed/kilometers, hectare of Clearing and Development land cleared (MID) Tendering Process of 2012 MFNRP, MAL Number of tenders approved Inputs for New Projects Disbursement of 2010-2015 MAL, Companies Inputs delivered to projects Inputs for Old and New Projects (Provinces) Training of Staff and 2010 (staff) MAL, Ministry of Number of project leaders and Farmers 2010-2015 Education and extension staff trained (farmers) Human Resources Development (MEHRD) Rice Planting 2010-2015 MAL, Provincial Number of hectares planted, Agriculture production recorded (kg/mt) Extension Smallholder (100ha), 300t Services (PAES), Semi-Commercial (100ha), 300t farmers Commercial (400ha), 2,000t Fully commercial (500ha), 2,500t Monitoring and Monthly 2010- MAL, PAES Number of visits done, number of Evaluation 2015 reports submitted March/September every year (2010- 2015) 12 | P a g e ANNEX: 1 NRRDP PROCEDURES AND GUIDELINES Appraisal Procedures:

1. Letter of intent from interested groups to the Chief Field Officer (CFO) or Permanent Secretary (PS) of the MAL

2. Extension services to carry out field assessment a. Land availability (free of disputes) b. Manpower availability c. Availability of water source

3. Extension to draw-up project proposal

4. Endorsement from CFO Provinces.

5. Signing of MOU and Land Use Agreement

6. Sent to MAL headquarter for final project approval Rice Cropping Calendar:

1. January – April (first crop)

2. May – August (second crop)

3. September – December (crop rotation) Duration of Project Assistance:

1. Year 1: Full Assistance

2. Year 2: Completion of any outstanding support, technical and mechanical support

3. Year 3: Technical support only Labour Subsidy Payment:

1. Land Clearance a. Virgin forest areas: SBD$10,000.00 per ha b. Secondary bush: SBD$5,000.00 per ha c. Grasslands: SBD$3,000.00 per ha

2. Planting: [contract (25 x 50 m)] SBD$300.00

3. Weeding: [contract (25 x 50 m)] SBD$300.00

4. Harvesting: [contract (25x 50 m)] SBD$400.00 Currency Conversion: 1 US$ = 7.50 SBD$ (as of 29th January, 2010) 13 | P a g e