Soil management and smallholder development in the Pacific Islands

In September last year, 75 representatives of the Pacific Islands met in Honiara, Solomon Islands, for an International Workshop on Soil Management and Smallholder Development in the Pacific Islands. The Proceedings of this Workshop have now been published by The International Board for Soil Research and Management (IBSRAM), as the eighth in their series of Proceedings. The Workshop was called to consider the problems of providing food for the increasing population of the larger Pacific Islands. Many of these islands have high, steeply sloping agricultural land which easiIy falls prey to loss of fertility if overworked, and to severe erosion in heavy tropical rainstorms. Many of the smallholders cannot afford to spend money on expensive farming techniques which might help conserve the soil. The current situation of these farmers and their lands is reviewed in the opening section of this book. Subsequent sections consider fertilizers, organic matterand nutrients, the environment and soil management and sociology and traditional knowledge. Case studies concentrate on tree growth on degraded soils at Barora, Solomon Islands, and the composition of Fijiian soils. The key resolution of the Workshop was a proposal to establish a regional network to overcome the constraints of sloping land to sustainable agricultural production in the Pacific. This network will be called PACIFICLAND (Management of Sloping Land for Sustainable Smallholder Agriculture in the Pacific) and IBSRAM will play a key role in coordinating the work of its members. 'Soil Management and Smallholder Development in the Pacific Islands - Pacificland, IBSRAM 1989 ISBN 974 7613 20 4 Available from: IBSRAM PO Box 9-109 Bangkhen Bangkok 10900 THAILAND

Bibliographic Details

Main Author:	Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation
Format:	News Item biblioteca
Language:	English
Published:	Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation 1989
Online Access:	https://hdl.handle.net/10568/45121 http://collections.infocollections.org/ukedu/en/d/Jcta22e/
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