THE Pacific Community (SPC) in the near future, will be launching another important regional initiative, the ‘Pacific Awareness and Response to the Coconut Rhinoceros Beetle or PARC project’ which aims at combating the threats to the coconut industry.
This was highlighted by SPC deputy director general Dr Audrey Aumua while speaking at the launch of the ‘Pacific Seeds for Life’ and funding for Regional Genebank” in Suva today.
Dr Aumua said the PARC project would be funded by New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT).
She said the coconut industry was a vital industry that over 60 per cent of the rural population depend on for livelihoods and food security.
During the official launch of the Pacific Community’s new regional initiatives under its Land Resources Division and the handover of Seeds to the Fiji Government today, Ms Aumua said the handover of plant tissue culture materials and vegetable seeds were part of a much broader scope of projects being carried out here at the Pacific Community to support both COVID-19 and TC Harold response plans for its member countries.
“We have received a total of 8 country requests so far including Fiji for a total of 166 thousand kilogram (kg) of vegetable seeds and over 10,000 tissue culture seedlings from Centre for Pacific Crops and Trees (CePaCT) . We are expecting more requests to come in for COVID-19 and TC Harold response.”
