Several owners of solar cocoa driers in the Solomon Islands recently attended a workshop designed to increase sales of “sun-dried” cocoa into the lucrative global boutique market. Last week’s workshop and demonstration exercise offered valuable opportunities for cocoa farmers from five provinces to share learnings with cocoa specialists and MAL extension officers. Lucy Kasimwane from Makira Province who attended the workshop said, “This was a great opportunity to meet with

The first ever shipment of Tongan squash to China left Tonga this week, after Tongatapu exporter Nishi Trading successfully passed a strict quarantine inspection on Saturday, 26 November 2016. A delegation from the People’s Republic of China General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) inspected the container of squash at Nishi Trading’s Packing House ‘at ‘Utulau, authorising the first consignment shipment. This important achievement took 18 months of

From May 30 to June 1 Solomon Islands’ Cocoa Industry Working Group held the country’s first Cocoa Festival in Honiara. The Working Group, established through PHAMA’s assistance in 2012, hosted over 100 attendees at the event including cocoa producers, buyers, exporters, local businesses and government representatives. As part of the week-long festival, a Cocoa Competition was held to judge the highest quality produce. Cocoa producer Elsie Sedo from Guadalcanal Province