Cicia Island

IT'': SPC: Fiji's Cicia Island has been declared a "Fully Organic" island.

New Caledonia - In a landmark event last week-end, Cicia Island in the Lau Group of Fiji Islands was proclaimed a fully biological island the Chairman of the Council of Cicia Island Tikina and the local pastor who proclaimed Cicia a biological island. POETCom, in cooperation with the Ministry of Food and Rural Development Committee at Cicia High School in the town of Mabula, held a two-day workshops on education and exchange of experience on PGS and ecofarm.

It was headed by POETCom Organic Extension Systems Officer Stephen Hazelman and consisted of consultant Christopher May and Principal Agriculture Officer Eastern Division of the Ministry of Agriculture Mere Salusalu. He is currently a member of the PGS Commission of the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movement (IFOAM). The interesting part of this education is that the pupils of Cicia High School are in it.

Hazelman said, "We have the help of the headmaster and managers so that some of the pupils can attend this school. In this way, the oldest people handed the island over to the young people in a sound state, and declared it ecological. Six years ago, the Ministry of Agriculture, in cooperation with Vanova, prohibited the import of anorganic fertilisers and chemical products to make sure that Cicia remained pure, yellow and pur.

They are here to commemorate our naturally organically produced way of living. The SPC and Cicia Island Department of Agriculture have been helping to make his dreams of being fully biologically certified a reality, he added. Mere Salusalu, Principal Agriculture Officer Eastern Division, said: "Most of their cultivation practices, which are traditionally biological, are already there.

Today's statement is significant as it opens the way for a safe and living island for the good of the next generation," she added. Basic foodstuffs such as tartar, manioc, yam, sweat potato leaf, drum embroidery leaf and tapioka leaf, to name but a few, are at the core of the island's daily cuisine.

A preliminary Cicia Management Committee has been established to drive the PGS processes on Cicia. Headquartered in the Pacific, SPC is an inter-governmental organization that provides a broad spectrum of engineering, research, education and design support to the Pacific Island area. Its 26 members include 22 Pacific island states and territory, Australia, France, New Zealand and the United States of America.