N. Marianas Islands Report

SARE Professional Development Program Annual Report for Northern Mariana Islands
January 1 - December 31, 2010

SARE Coordinator:

Summary of 2010 PDP Activities and Results

In 2010, the PDP in the Northern Marianas focused on top priorities mentioned in the recent Pacific sub-regional conference. Among the activities are SARE workshops on the islands of Rota and Tinian on Utilization of Local Feedstuff for Animals, as well as Feed Formulation and Feed Replacement workshops, which were attended by fifty (50) participants in total. There was also a supplemental hands on workshop offered on the islands of Tinian, Saipan and Rota for an additional eight (8) ranchers on Artificial Insemination. Separate funding was obtained from SARE PDP, and we were able to fund travel for seven (7) professionals to Guam’s Island Sustainability Conference, which was also attended by professionals from Federated State of Micronesia, Palau, Northern Marianas and Guam. More than 60 participants attended the conference, which maximized the exchange and diversity of ideas. In order to better promote new technology in livestock production, the PI attended a professional development training seminar on tropical animal production and an Agricultural Extension Conference in Indonesia and Malaysia. This event exposed the PI to various potential technological research advances that could be applied on the islands. These technologies were shared and will be further shared via small group discussion and perhaps through farmer demonstrations via Producer grants, thus increasing new knowledge and awareness in improving livestock operation. This year’s activities also proved change in action of farmers in adopting Artificial Insemination in their operations. The mission was also complemented by the training of almost 70 ranchers in a series of workshops offered by Marianas Grazing Academy, of which the PI is a member.

 Context and Overview

NMC-CREES’s mission is to focus on islands’ potential programs that stakeholders will benefit from directly. It has been a decade since livestock and agriculture have been considered the backbone industry for the islands, due mostly to the neglect of the island leader. The need for a slaughterhouse, the genetic dilemma of inbreeding and high cost of livestock feeds are the most prohibiting factors to success. The state PDP SARE focus addressed solutions to these problems by offering training workshops and on-site demonstrations to our ranchers and professional extension agents in subjects such as Feed Nutrition, Livestock Genetic Upgrading and various island sustainability topics. This was coupled with a great collaboration of experts from University of Hawaii and University of Virgin Islands working on the same issues by providing extension outreach to pacific islanders. With funding from the USDA, they were able to provide a study on the feasibility of a slaughterhouse that would help both private and government entities in decision making.

Activities and Methods

The following professional development sessions were funded with the Western SARE 2010 state implementation grant. The actual numbers exceeded the projected number of workshops, meetings and field days plus travel scholarships and mini-grants:

Workshops

• January 2010: SARE sub-regional workshops in Saipan attended by the research scientist and extension staff from Federated State of Micronesia, Guam and Palau. Various Western SARE funded projects were presented in power-point and poster presentations.
• February-March 2010: supplemental workshop for AI. Video-production offered to interested ranchers and extension staff from DLNR.
• July 2010: Workshops on Livestock Utilization of Local Feedstuff –an invitation from Rota Advisory council as results of priority. SARE grants opportunity workshop was also offered. In addition, a Feed Formulation and Feed Replacement workshop followed.
• September 2010: Seven person contingent from Northern Marianas attended the Island Sustainability Conference in Guam.
• March 2011: Western SARE funded workshops in marketing, sweet soursop wine making, potato production and pest management. SARE grants presentation including Producer grants in aquaculture, NRCS EQIP grants presentation, CDA and Bank of Guam presentation assisting farmers in agricultural loan processes.

Meetings

• June 2010: Western SARE PDP meeting in Logan, Utah attended by SARE PDP coordinators.

Field days

• July 2010: AI field day activities, demo on AI attended by10 ranchers.
• Deer production and AgTour in Rota; an Producer grant event. ~ 25 participants in attendance.

Travel scholarships

• Local Food Upscale in Madison, WI with other PDP Coordinators.

Mini-grants

• Guam Island Sustainability Conference. Seven extension staff attended.

Upcoming events funded under this grant

• April: SARE booth display at Tinian Fiesta April 29-30.
• May 2-3: SARE presentation of funded Western SARE projects at CREES Workshop.
• May 6: NMC Charted day and Open House CREES- SARE booth display.

PDP-funded Publications/Educational Materials and Products:

Western SARE 2010 Calendar: A total of 1,500 copies have been distributed throughout the CNMI, promoting sustainable agriculture with NMC-CREES programs and the CNMI agriculture industry.

News article from Saipan Tribune and Marianas Variety. From every Western SARE funded event, an article is released before and after the event from NMC Press informing the public of its importance.

Videos produced in workshops such as the Artificial Insemination workshop were aired on Channel 5 regularly, free of charge (Rota), and are being re-run periodically. All workshops are documented into video and included on our website.

Flyers and factsheets downloaded from SARE websites were printed and provided to our stakeholders.

Impacts and contributions:

The above activities provided tremendous acquisition of new knowledge and skills not only on the PI side, in his exposure to tropical technologies in Asian countries, but to other extension agents and scientists who attended the island sustainability conference in Guam. This provided an out of the box view and widened the concept of sustainability definitions. As a result, projects arising after this became multi-disciplinary in approach, which changed professional attitude and understanding. The professionals now consider projects that will have more impacts and that are driven by stakeholder’s inputs. An example of which is the result of each program’s plan of work. Each plan must equate with sustainability and for this reason future plans will take it as a vital ingredient in all projects. Because of the advisory council for each island and the peer review feedbacks, this made a change in their program to base future actions on stakeholders input, thus increasing clientele involvement and interaction. As a result, more stakeholders are happier and satisfied. Our visibility in most events will prove that they also increased their expectations in every extension and research staff. The travel scholarship received by the PDP coordinator to attend the North Central PDP training in food marketing provided a new avenue for enrichment as a potential market for growth enterprise. However, the level of preparedness for CNMI to upscale local food is not even close to other states, thus, more education, research, preparation and exposure is required for professionals and farmers in this endeavor.

Unintended Outcomes

The collaborative effort with The Marianas Grazing Academy is indeed a big help in developing more professionals thru their series of workshops.

The partnership with USDA NRCS, Commonwealth Development Authority and Farm Service Agency in all our events has provided support not only to the professionals but also the end stakeholders - the farmers and ranchers in attaining their goals for sustainable farming.

Involvement of others in state PDP planning and implementation

NMC CREES has its own advisory council since the NMI is so small and separated by waters. It is practical to use the same advisory groups that are composed of individuals in different professions. They usually meet once in a year before submission of our Plan of Work for USDA. In this planning summit with CREES staff, we do presentations of each program, followed by a forum from which set priorities will evolve.

Evaluation Results

An annual evaluation form will be disseminated to the three islands to gauge success and failure of the SARE program in the NMI. This form will serve as an overall assessment of the SARE program for four years beginning in 2007. Key points will be included as well as lacking points. Expected release of evaluation results in June 2011.