Organic Insights Magazine - Summer 2022

Organic Insights / Summer 2022 / 19

Sage Lawless, NASAA Organic Intern

Secretary for Ministry of Agriculture in the Cook Islands, Temarama Anguna-Kamana said that because the Island’s agricultural production and labour force is so small, they need participation from all household members. The ministry supports training for women internationally, and provides access to finance and resources, and appropriate technology. A PHAMA Plus activity that has been seen as a game changer, is the Family Farms Teammodel – which helps to break cultural stereotypes through helping to define roles of each family member and increase shared decision-making for both men and women. Digital technology is also a significant development, according to Samoa agri- business entrepreneur, Shelley Burich , owner of Vaoala Vanilla, who spoke of the opportunities to diversity with e-commerce/social media, as particularly beneficial for vulnerable communities. Further Information View a recording of the webinar at phamaplus.com.au/media/events/webinar- rural-women-seeds-of-growth-and- change-in-the-pacific NASAA Certified Organic (NCO) have certified operators throughout the Asia-Pacific region since 1990 under the ‘Grower Group’ model, including in Indonesia, PNG, East Timor, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Samoa, Fiji and Nepal. There are currently around 20,000 individual growers under collective certification through NCO, with primary production including tea/coffee, spices and coconuts/coconut products now exported to major markets, including the US. NCO have also provided in-country training and support to communities in the Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Vanuatu, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, Nepal, Vietnam, and Fiji. In November, NCO was invited by Fairtrade International ANZ in PNG to attend a roundtable with our certified

a voice for youth

Young people are the future of our industry, and we all play a role in engaging the next generation of innovative leaders. Channelling the passionate enthusiasm of our younger tribe, the Young Organics Global Network was officially launched in September 2021 with a vision to create a better and more wholistic world, ensuring a sustainable and food-secure future. The network aims to represent young people and provide a platform to connect, to ensure they have a voice in policy and decision-making processes, and to participate proactively for social and political changes. Momentum for an official global youth forum has been building and follows the success of emergent forums in the Asia region over the last decade. Closely following the launch, the first World Organic Youth Summit was held in South Korea in late October 2021. Here at NASAA Organic, we have been fortunate to engage with post grad student Sage Lawless, to look at the best ways to increase youth engagement in Australia’s own organics industry. Sage worked with NASAA Organic over a period of 10 months, through an internship placement as part of her Masters of Global Food and Agribusiness at the University of Adelaide. We’ll be looking to feature outcomes from Sage’s research in a future edition of Organic Insights. Stay tuned. Further Information Get involved at yoglobalnetwork.com Revisit our article on Youth Network Committee member and FiBL Board member, Julia Lernoud, from the December 2019 edition of Organic Insights.

operators, including processors, exporters and grower groups. The purpose of the roundtable was to discuss the needs, challenges, and future for their organic industry.