[ANU Pacific.Institute] ACPIR Pacific Seminar Series: Coffee as a foundation crop for resilient livelihood systems in the Pacific Islands

[Inez Mahony]

The Australian Centre for Pacific Islands Research (ACPIR) at the University of the Sunshine Coast invites you to join our Pacific Seminar Series.

Opportunities for developing coffee as a foundation crop for resilient livelihood systems in the Pacific Islands

When: 12pm AEST Tue 25 Oct
Register HERE​​​​​​​​​​​​​​<https://usc-au.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZctcOiurT4uHtYN6RVGdujnVZbRK06VBzWj>

At the end of the 19th Century and early decades of the 20th Century, coffee was among several cash crops that were brought to the Pacific islands as potentially providing high-value exports. Conventional plantations of arabica coffee did well (at least until recently) in Tongatapu and continue, along with smallholder production, in Tanna Island of Vanuatu. In Fiji, plantation production has effectively ceased but an innovative business, Bula Coffee, has set up an enterprise based largely on consolidating and processing beans that have been 'wild-harvested' by women from coffee plants that have survived in gallery forest along streams and other forested areas of community land. Recent studies have revealed a range of genetic diversity that offers opportunities beyond the simplistic conventional choice of 'arabica vs. robusta'. However, for future production to be resilient in the face of climate change, as well as socially and economically inclusive, coffee will need to be integrated, in innovative ways, into agri-food systems that are tailored to the livelihood needs of Pacific island communities. Based on the insights gained from recent research, the authors would like to share some ideas for how these challenges and opportunities might be addressed going forward.

Dr Richard Markham worked mainly in Africa, Latin America and Europe – on biological control, integrated pest management and genetic resources conservation – before he came to Fiji in 2008, as Research Program Manager for the new Pacific Crops program of the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR). After almost ten years of managing research-for-development projects across ACIAR’s Indo-Pacific region, he retired to Fiji, to set up a small business and try his hand at achieving sustainable development outcomes in a private sector context.

Dr Wayne Hancock has a background in farming and interest in plants and horticulture. His work in this area and R&D has taken him across Australia, Asia and Africa. With his Masters research based on his work in Malawi, Wayne continued in academia and international development before completing a multi-disciplinary PhD at Southern Cross University (SCU). This focussed on the release of the first genetically modified crop in Australia, Ingard Cotton, and covered the genetics behind the development of the crop, the IP and protection involved, and the economics of use. Wayne has spent many years in Malawi, China, Sudan, Ethiopia, Mongolia and Myanmar with his project work in agriculture, water and the environment. He has recently returned to Australia and SCU with ACIAR work and consultancies and R&D in Myanmar, Malawi, China, Fiji and Vanuatu.
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