Zai Na Tina Centre for Organic Systems

Honiara, Islas Salomón

An Overview Of Our Solution

Zai Na Tina (ZNT), a farmer support, non-profit organization, addresses these challenges through the promotion and demonstration of organic farming technologies, without the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides. It establishes a demonstration farm which employs these technologies, co-founds a larger not for profit organization called Kastom Gaden Association (KGA) as its national extension and implementing organization and runs an internship program for potential young farmers. The initiative started by ZNT has transformed the farming practices and lives of many rural farmers in the Solomon Islands. Through its activities, demonstration farm and the work of KGA, which has 6000 members, many farmers are now practicing sustainable farming practices which promote and benefit biodiversity conservation.

Who is this solution impacting?

Community Type

Rural

Organization type

Sin fines de lucro/No Gubernamental

Ecosystem (select all that apply)

Forests

Oceans/Coasts

Population impacted

10,000 people

Size of agricultural area

3.2 ha

Production quantity

2.5 ton p.a

People employed

10 people

Describe your solution

Our solution to the above problem is promoting organic farming technologies in the Solomon Islands. We established a demonstration farm on a 3.2 ha property on the outskirts of Honiara for people to come and see how organic farming is done. While organic farming involves a wide range of practices, we practiced and promoted on the farm 10 technologies for improving and maintaining soil health and biodiversity as well as a strategy for adapting to the negative impacts of climate change. These technologies are (1) composting, (2) cover cropping/green manuring, (3) crop rotation, (4) mulching of surfaces, (5) Farm residues retention/no burning, (6) Growing trees, (7) Minimum tillage, (8) Inter-cropping, (9) Integrating animals (10) Using vertiver grass for soil conservation. These technologies have been proven to increase soil organic matter and soil biodiversity, including other soil biological, chemical and physical properties. We have farmed the same land for more than 20 years now without the use of any chemical fertilizer and pesticides. Avoiding pesticide use is important for biodiversity conservation. This inspired many people who visited the farm and have convinced many to adopt these practices back in their villages. With the increasing effects of climate change we are promoting these technologies as climate change adaptation technologies.

Describe your implementation

1. Firstly we established a demonstration farm to show people how to carry out the organic farming technologies. 2. Zai Na Tina, together with an Australian, Mr. Tony Jansen, established a farmer support organization called Kastom Gaden Association (KGA) right at the beginning of our establishment. KGA is the national vehicle that drives the promotion of organic farming technologies into the rural areas of Solomon Islands. 3. We establish an internship program to produce future organic farmers by engaging students from the Rural Training Centers who wish to complete the practical component of their course of study. We take the students through a complete organic farming experience, and we hope that students will adopt this solution when they return to their villages. Furthermore, we even receive students from New Caledonia lately who came to live on the farm and experience the implementation of these technologies. 4. Assisted a community to export a local nut, ngali nut, as an organically certified product. We are still going through the certification process. 5. Work with a UNDP Climate change project in Solomon Islands (SWOCK) in 3 locations in the country to promote these technologies as climate change adaptation technologies through demonstration plots. Key success factors: (1) The location of Zai Na Tina Organic Demonstration Farm. (2) KGA was the only NGO providing the kind of services it was giving to rural people so donors put money into it and it just grew. (3) Desperation by farmers. (4) Increasing demand for organically grown foods. Any obstacles and how you overcame them: The government is very supportive verbally but not financially to promote and mainstream organic farming. Also need effective government policies conducive to enable organic farming practices, example lack of policy on waste management (composting) which would be useful for organic farmers.

External connections

One of our key partners in promoting organic farming apart from Kastom Gaden Association is the Pacific Organic and Ethical Trade Community (POETCom) based at the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC), Suva, Fiji Islands. POETCom assisted us to refine and implement these technologies in 3 Pacific countries through an IFAD funded project called ‘Capacity building for Resilient Agriculture in the Pacific’. We are recognized by the Solomon Islands government as an authority in organic farming and have been engaged to draft a national organic agriculture policy for Solomon Islands.

What is the environmental or ecological challenge you are targeting with your solution?

Maintaining soil fertility or soil health and reducing deforestation due to shifting cultivation while coping with the impacts of climate change is becoming a great challenge in the Solomon Islands and throughout the Pacific. Loss of soil organic matter through slash and burn, over cultivation and lack of inputs has greatly affected productivity in some islands. Furthermore, climate change impacts such as intense or longer duration of rainfall and longer droughts are becoming more common. These have exacerbated the declining soil fertility in many islands due to over-cultivation and the erosion of top soil into the marine ecosystems causing sedimentation which affected coral reefs. Thus maintaining healthy soils is critical for biodiversity conservation in both terrestrial and marine ecosystems.

Describe the context in which you are operating

Shifting cultivations with fallow cycles is still practiced in the Solomon Islands. It has been a sustainable farming system until recently. Fallow periods of 12-15 years are necessary to return the fertility of the soil to those in the virgin forests. However, the increasing population pressure and diminishing available land has resulted in shorter fallow periods. In some places fallows periods are only 2-4 years. This situation together with lack of inputs has greatly affected the productivity of arable lands, leading to forest and land degradation. On the end of the spectrum, pressure from the cash economy to increase yield and bring more cash has resulted in increasing use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides in Solomon Islands. Unlimited use of these inputs by farmers around urban Centers also led to soil degradation with poor production over time. Declining soil fertility is a contributing factor to the presence of malnutrition, low income and overall food insecurity in the rural areas. Thus there is a great need for sustainable farming practices to enhance food security.

How did you impact natural resource use and greenhouse gas emissions?

• Through the adoption of organic farming technologies many farmers in Solomon Islands have remained in the same plot of land longer now, which slows down deforestation and loss of forest biodiversity. • Avoidance of chemical sprays increased natural enemies and on farm diversity as demonstrated in our organic demonstration farm. • The use of organic sources of nutrients is likely to improve soil fertility, and the slow release nature of the organic fertilizers is likely to minimize leaching and runoff losses of nutrients into streams and marine ecosystem, polluting them. • Growing of trees for soil improvements is also likely to provide habitats for other organisms which contribute to the overall biodiversity of farms and surroundings.

Language(s)

Which language(s) are spoken in the area where your solution is implemented?

Water

These technologies enhance soil health and the resilience of soil structure. Thus it minimizes soil erosion and enhances infiltration. These processes ensure clean water.

Food Security/Nutrition

Organic farming technologies can guarantee a continuous supply of food and nutrition by ensuring a healthy productive soil. We have farmers who can testify to this.

Economic/Sustainable Development

Allows best use of local resources, low investment and provides good and constant yield and therefore continues provision of income and nutrition.

Climate

These organic farming technologies enhance soil health and healthy soils are resilient to climate change. They also help to store carbon in the soil rather than in the atmosphere thus mitigating climate change.

Sustainability

This solution attracts very little or low investment. We have proven that it is so because we did not receive any grant funding to develop and implement these technologies. Our philosophy has always been on adopting and promoting technologies that are simpler and affordable at the village level. Thus the solution is sustainable and adaptable to all levels or scale of production

Return on investment

We believe the return on investment is good, given the amount of investment is minimal. Our small demonstration farm produces a turnover of about SBD250, 000 per annum from an investment on a few implements, labour and seeds. Also from the results you can see that an idea about promoting organic farming technologies has turned out to be something bigger, impacting the socio-economic status of our society. We did not expect it would have come to where we are now.

How could we successfully replicate this solution elsewhere?

This solution can be easily replicated by any organization through establishment of demonstration farms and on-site trainings and demonstrations, similar to farmer field schools we’ve seen coming up now. Trainings & and print media education may need to be funded by government agencies or farmer support organizations. The technologies themselves, however, do not cost much to implement.

Overview