The objective of the National Agriculture Strategic Plan (NASP) is to enhance agriculture development and investment that will enable the Government of the Cook Islands to secure a greater and sustained contribution of the agriculture sector to the national economy and particularly to food security and outer islands development. The overall goal of NASP is to provide every citizen, economic and physical access to sufficient food to sustain a healthy and productive life in the absence of malnutrition, and to ensure that food is produced from efficient and effective agriculture systems that are compatible with sustainable use and management of its natural resources. The following key issues are interlocking and must be addressed together: 1. Food security and nutrition development; 2. Economic growth; 3. Technical, institutional and human resource development; 4. Supply and demand of food (including consumption patterns and dietary changes); 5. Infrastructure, marketing, trade and investment development.; The following five-point strategy, after consultations with stakeholders (through an FAO-funded project in 2000) is identified for the national agriculture development to be implemented in the next five years: I Intensification Strategy: 1. Cropping area and intensity expansion; 2. Crop yield increase; 3. Livestock and poultry up-grading, expansion and productivity increase. II Diversification Strategy: 1. Food crop diversification; 2. Promotion of high value crops; 3. Development of agro-forestry on sloping lands; 4. Development of goat and other livestock farming; 5. Development of feed crops; III Strategy for Sustainable Commercial Agriculture Development: 1. Intensive commercial crop production with the application of advanced agricultural and irrigation practices; 2. Organic farming and application of bio-technology (EM, GMO) and IPM technology; 3. Development of integrated farming practices; IV Post-harvest and Processing Facilities Development Strategy: 1. Packaging sheds which include facilities for cleaning, sorting, grading, packing, storage and processing of fruits and vegetables; 2. Triple “A” slaughterhouses and cold storage facilities together with meat processing facilities; 3. Establishment of small-scale feed mills to produce blended feed using imported and locally available ingredients. V Institutional and Behavioral Development Strategy: 1. Development of private commercial agriculture and livestock farming based on individual and horizontally integrated producers associations, grouping in accordance with their choice of crops or livestock with comparative advantages (technical, economic and agroecological); 2. Development of diversified consumption and dietary patterns with increased awareness on health and nutrition; 3. Development of agricultural marketing and market information systems through better cooperation between government agencies and private sector operators in order to improve existing markets and develop new domestic and international market opportunities; 4. Establishment of a 'national extension network' under MoA with systematic linkages with outer islands administrative bodies.; In the context of governance, in relation to Ministerial capacity building, issues such as high staff turnover, weak incentives, low levels of professional development, dependence on externally funded technical assistance and insufficient private sector engagement skills will be tackled by a new Human Resources Development Plan. This will foster long-term staff development and retention through professional career advancement based on technical specialisation. Institutional coordination in the sector is also important, both within and across MINAGRI agencies and with other Ministries driving rural development. This strategy will strengthen horizontal and vertical collaboration between these different institutions to ensure effective implementation of the PSTA III rural development goals and other national targets.
National Agriculture Strategic Plan.