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STORY: IFAD / LARIO SOLOMON ISLANDS
TRT: 4:36
SOURCE: IFAD
RESTRICTIONS: EMBARGO TILL 04 MARCH 2024, 7PM EST
LANGUAGE: PIDJIN / ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 01 AND 02 MARCH 2024, GUADALCANAL, SOLOMON ISLANDS / 03 MARCH 2024, HONIARA, SOLOMON ISLANDS / FILE
01 MARCH 2024, GUADALCANAL, SOLOMON ISLANDS
1. Wide shot, banana farm destroyed by flood.
2. Wide shot, owner of banana farm pointing to where trees were.
3. Close up, torn down banana tree lying in stream
4. Med shot, Sereh Diovi pointing out where crops used to be
5. SOUNDBITE (Pidjin) Serah Diovi, Banana Farmer:
“we work along the banks of the river and plant our food there. So, when the water came, it spoiled our bananas and everything.”
FILE – 2014 - GUADALCANAL, SOLOMON ISLANDS
6. Wide shot, top view of flooded village
7. Wide shot, house floating on flood tide.
8. Various shots, flooded streets
9. Various shots, Guadalcanal inhabitants walking among debris and clearing damages
02 MARCH 2024, GUADALCANAL, SOLOMON ISLANDS
10. Wide shot, President of IFAD, Alvaro Lario arriving on project site and greeting officials
11. Wide shot, President Lario listening to project presentation.
12. Wide shot, President Lario speaking to participants
13. SOUNDBITE (English) Alvaro Lario, President of IFAD:
“Well, we are seeing now that many of the communities are not talking about if the cyclone is going to come, but when is the next cyclone going to come and this one of the things we are seeing. The changing weather patterns, the fact that we have El nino, La nina is really affecting the communities. We now need to make sure we prepare them for disaster risk management, but also, we support them in the droughts as well as in the floods.”
01 MARCH 2024, HONIARA AIRPORT, SOLOMON ISLANDS
14. Wide shot, President Lario was greeted by the Minister of Agriculture for Solomon Islands and IFAD Pacific Country director Chandra Samekto.
03 MARCH 2024, HONIARA, SOLOMON ISLANDS
15. Wide shot, Alvaro Lario, President of IFAD posing for photograph with Manasseh Sogavare, Prime Minister of the Solomon Islands
16. Various shots, photos being taken of President and Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock, Lottie Vaisekavea.
02 MARCH 2024, GUADALCANAL, SOLOMON ISLANDS
17. Wide shot, President Lario listening to project presentation
18. SOUNDBITE (English) Alvaro Lario, President of IFAD:
“The project we have seen today is very much focused on nutrition, as on savings. There are a number of savings clubs, also including children where the communities are learning how to save and invest in the future, but also focusing very much on community gardens, focusing on new farming practices and making sure they can also invest and save in the community.”
FILE – NOVEMBER 2023 - KIRIBATI
19. Wide shot, community savings group
20. Close up, money in jar and ledger
FILE – AUGUST 2022, FIJI
21. Wide shot, farmers fitting drip irrigation system
22. Wide shot, project staff explaining drip irrigation system
23. Close up, water dripping from system piping
24. Wide shot, farmers planting
25. Wide shot, project staff filling biogas digester
26. Wide shot, project participant lighting biogas stove
FILE – JUNE 2023, TONGA
27. Wide shot, farmer spreading biofertilizer.
28. Drone shot, top view of farmers working in ripe farm field.
IFAD President Alvaro Lario visits Solomon Islands to see first-hand how the UN agency is supporting communities dealing with extreme weather.
“We must make sure that we prepare communities in the Pacific for disaster risks supporting them in floods as well as droughts.”
This is the message from IFAD President Alvaro Lario, President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) who has been visiting the Solomon Islands to see first-hand how the UN organisation is supporting communities who are experiencing more frequent extreme weather events including cyclones and flooding.
The visit also comes at a critical juncture, amid a global food crisis and with millions of people – many of them small-scale farmers and their families – unable to afford a healthy diet.
Two weeks ago, farmer Sereh Diovi was growing bananas, cassava, and potatoes here, when floods washed away all her crops.
A new housing development and a shortage of other farming land on the island of Guadalcanal had forced her to start growing her fruit and vegetables beside the riverbank.
SOUNDBITE (Pidjin) Serah Diovi, Banana Farmer:
“We work along the banks of the river and plant our food there. So, when the water came, it spoiled our bananas and everything.”
Dealing with extreme weather events has become a normal way of life for the residents of the Solomon Islands.
The worst floods were in 2014 when homes, forests and whole communities were washed away, but every year farmers are having to cope with damaged crops, and disruption to roads which cuts off communities.
SOUNDBITE (English) Alvaro Lario, President of IFAD:
“Well, we are seeing now that many of the communities are not talking about if the cyclone is going to come, but when is the next cyclone going to come and this one of the things we are seeing. The changing weather patterns, the fact that we have El nino, La nina is really affecting the communities. We now need to make sure we prepare them for disaster risk management, but also, we support them in the droughts as well as in the floods.”
The IFAD President has been visiting the islands, where he met with Manasseh Sogavare, Prime Minister of the Solomon Islands and Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock, Lottie Vaisekavea. They spoke about the impact of IFAD’s investments to address the region’s extreme vulnerability to climate change and natural disasters, including threats to food security and nutrition.
In just the last few years, the UN’s International Fund for Agricultural Development has been working with the Government of Australia and the Solomon Islands to help local producers build resilience to these ever-increasing shocks.
Lario also met project participants and implementing partners on Malaita Island, of the rural Development Programme PIRAS which supported small-scale cocoa farmers to partner with agri-businesses to add value to agricultural products and create jobs and income opportunities for 68,000 poor rural families across the country.
SOUNDBITE (English) Alvaro Lario, President of IFAD:
“The project we have seen today is very much focused on nutrition, as on savings. There are a number of savings clubs, also including children where the communities are learning how to save and invest in the future, but also focusing very much on community gardens, focusing on new farming practices and making sure they can also invest and save in the community.”
The visit marks the first ever official mission to the Pacific by an IFAD President. IFAD’s work in Asia, and the Pacific Islands is growing.
Today, our annual lending to the Pacific Islands is nearly twice as high as it was 20 years ago, and Australia is a crucial development partner for IFAD. PIRAS is another project – co-financed by IFAD and the Australian Government. It supports post-pandemic economic recovery and food and nutrition in six Pacific Island countries: Fiji, Kiribati, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, and Vanuatu.
BACKGROUND NOTES
The President is now travelling to Australia. This is the first presidential mission to Australia in a decade. Australia is a crucial development partner for IFAD in the Asia Pacific. A deeper strategic partnership would help leverage Australia's expertise in agriculture and development and scale up innovative solutions for the Pacific region, including Small Island Developing States, which face significant and unique challenges.
