ORGANIC CERTIFICATION TEAM FOLLOW UP VISIT TO CICIA

Date : 5th  to the 12th of November

Sakiusa Tubuna-ifad ,PA LAU,PAO EASTERN MERE SALUSALU,PGS CONSULTANT CHRIS MAY

Phase 1 was the intro - register the villages and train the farmers in basics of organic standard and PGS responsibilities

Phase 2 (this trip)
- We will need a review meeting with the key stakeholders (COMA) for them to report progress and ID issues they need addressed.
-Followed by a check what has been done (physical site checks referenced against the documentation from Cama); -Specific training to help build Cama's skill base (in the areas where there might be gaps in what has been done already); -Training for Cama and the PGS committee in handling paperwork and making decisions.

- Next I want to introduce the peer review process whereby we inspect villages against the PGS operating requirements( we will document the outputs from this process). (Peer review doc - we havent fully decided on our approach yet so after discussions we will fine tune the doc,translate and print there). We will need a plan for  visiting each village.May not do every village that will depend on time.

- Once complete I will prepare a report on progress to date and a forward plan for next few months - this will be presented to the COMA committee.

Along side all this we have the coconut quality standards to prepare and present (I will dev these at a handson processing meeting with the women - this serves as a training also. AND we have the supply chain considerations re transport, market etc. The market is in Suva so we will need to look at the dynamics of the market to help guide Cicia on packaging and pricing. This all then links to a business plan. WHEN can we do this market visit in our time schedule??

Timing for each day - we need to be flexible but as long as I have Cama 100% of the time then we should be able to cover everything in the week but when we inspect the villages ALL the registered farmers must be there.

LiveStock Survey

An update on Livestock Test and Surveys

Livestocks in the 5 villages of Cicia have been tested with tuberculosis, this test will be mainly in regards for the Organic status and standards. 5 staff came to do this test on October and it went successful and we are waiting for the results as we are looking forward in the certification of Cicia as Organic and mainly livestock test and survey plays a vital role in it.