SDG: 2.3 By 2030, double the agricultural productivity and incomes of small-scale food producers, in particular women, indigenous peoples, family farmers, pastoralists and fishers, including through secure and equal access to land, other productive resources and inputs, knowledge, financial services, markets and opportunities for value addition and non-farm employment
2.4 By 2030, ensure sustainable food production systems and implement resilient agricultural practices that increase productivity and production, that help maintain ecosystems, that strengthen capacity for adaptation to climate change, extreme weather, drought, flooding and other disasters and that progressively improve land and soil quality
2.C Adopt measures to ensure the proper functioning of food commodity markets and their derivatives and facilitate timely access to market information, including on food reserves, in order to help limit extreme food price volatility
The dispersed landmass and long distances between suppliers and markets inhibits the production of marketable quantities of agricultural products in some atolls. Transport of perishable products over long distances reduces quality and profit. It is estimated that about 25 percent of total production value is lost as post-harvest spoilage.
Furthermore, the high cost and unreliability of transport, particularly in rough weather; uncertainty of load space; poorly organized marketing system, and poor market information available to farmers, contributes to undermine agricultural trade.
Given the wastage of postharvest and dispersed manner of the islands it’s crucial that interventions need to address to facilitate ways in which farmers can sell there produce in a more profitable manner, thus elevating the living standard of the island communities.
Through this project which is to be implemented over a period of two years, the Government intends to establish market infrastructure with proper facilities to ensure regional food security, develop suitable storage facilities which would address issues of food safety and hygiene, reduce waste and improve profitability along the agricultural value chain, improve food security through increased accessibility to safe food, and develop new agribusiness initiatives and market linkages.
1. Ministry of Fisheries, Marine Resources and Agriculture
2. Local Government Authority
3. Ministry of Economic Development
4. City/Island Councils
5. Ministry of National Planning and Infrastructure
6. Ministry of Transport and Civil Aviation