Project Overview
Commodities
Practices
Proposal abstract:
In the wake of the impacts of Super Typhoon Mawar on Guam,
addressing family and island-wide food insecurity remains a
pressing concern. In light of recent findings and the
challenges brought, Guam PDP is dedicated to collaborating with
both existing and new members of our advisory committee and
recognize the importance of engaging discussions with key
stakeholders in the agriculture sector. The team continues to
seek innovative and non-traditional partnerships to address
this critical issue and our team offers a curriculum that can
be adapted to meet the evolving needs of our community.
Key objectives include: linking government agencies and farmer
groups to provide New Farmer Trainings, promoting sustainable
agricultural production practices (both modern and
traditional), promoting sustainable agricultural grants and
rebuild links within the Micronesian region, providing support
for the INSPIRE grant, providing technical support for the Guam
Master Food Preserver Program, and promoting a sub-regional
conference in the Micronesia area in collaboration with
partners.
The program will encompass a wide range of topics, including
subsistence production systems, sustainable soil and water
conservation practices, farm planning strategies, permaculture
and agroforestry practices, addressing food security issues,
promoting government/federal programs, and facilitating access
and submissions of WSARE grants.The team will continue to
utilize various methods of program delivery, including online
platforms, publications, videos, and demonstration sites to
ensure that our resources and knowledge reach as many
individuals and communities in Guam and the wider Western
Pacific region.
Project objectives from proposal:
Objective 1. Increase island food security through the
promotion of subsistence agriculture, agroforestry, and other
sustainable agriculture systems for Guam's limited resource
families micro-plot forest gardens should reduce spending on
food and provide family food diversity. Selected agroforestry
practices and micro-plot utilization directly alleviates many
of the most pressing constraints reported by our regions
farmers: poor rocky soils, lack of weed control, sloping
land, and limited time/labor, equipment, and capital.
Agroforestry practices such as mulching, for example,
enriches the soil and suppresses weed growth. More
importantly, a micro-plot approach addresses time, labor,
equipment, and capital limitations by maximizing the
productivity of a small plot of land for small producers.
Increasing the abilities of many families to produce on the
lands they have, will stabilize and grow the agricultural
production community.
Objective 2. Link government agencies and farmer groups to
provide New Farmer Trainings. Forging connections between
government agencies and farmer groups to deliver New Farmer
Trainings is essential to curriculum adoption and increasing
producer knowledge and skills.
Objective 3. Increase capacity of outreach professionals to
support farmer implementation of sustainable agriculture
practices. PDP will promote sustainable agricultural
production practices, both modern and traditional
(agroforestry) through curriculum development and by
promoting SARE grants through grant writing workshops. Also,
will lead collaborations among agriculture professionals to
develop curriculum, demonstrations, workshops, and project
plans/proposals. Explore online program
development activities and workshop delivery for these
efforts.
Objective 4. Promote sustainable agricultural grants and
rebuild links within the Micronesian region, and rengage
Farmer-Chef efforts and increase links within the local food
industry.
Objective 5. Provide support for the INSPIRE grant and the Guam
Master Food Preserver's Program.These projects are integral to
increasing knowledge in food security and sustainable
agricultural practices, and our support will ensure their
continued success.