Representatives from Vanuatu participated in the Regional Workshop on Catalyzing Agrifood Systems through Digitalization, held from 2–3 December 2025 in Suva, Fiji, under the FAO project TCP/SAP/3909 – Catalyzing Agrifood Systems through Digitalization.
The workshop brought together participating Pacific Island countries and key stakeholders to share national experiences, progress, challenges and priorities in advancing digital agriculture, with particular focus on the development of National E-Agriculture Strategies and implementation of the Digital Farmer Registry (DFR).
Vanuatu's Participation
Vanuatu's participation provided an opportunity to present the country's progress toward strengthening the collection, management and use of farmer information through the Digital Farmer Registry.
The country presentation highlighted Vanuatu's agriculture context and the importance of having accurate and reliable farmer information to support evidence-based planning and agricultural service delivery.
Vanuatu also shared experiences and challenges associated with previous farmer-data management arrangements, including fragmented records, duplication, outdated information, manual processes and the absence of a single national system for maintaining reliable farmer information.
The presentation further highlighted Vanuatu's progress in preparing for the implementation of the DFR, including government readiness, institutional arrangements, ICT and human-resource considerations, system deployment priorities and the importance of aligning the registry with national digital agriculture objectives.
Purpose of the Workshop
The regional workshop aimed to strengthen collaboration and knowledge sharing among participating countries as they progress with the digital transformation of their agriculture sectors.
In particular, the workshop provided a platform to:
- Review country progress in the development and implementation of National E-Agriculture Strategies and Digital Farmer Registries.
- Share experiences, challenges, lessons learned and good practices among participating Pacific Island countries.
- Discuss government readiness, governance, ICT infrastructure, human-resource capacity and institutional arrangements required for successful DFR implementation.
- Identify practical national use cases for farmer registry data, including agricultural planning, farmer support programmes, disaster response, extension services and improved targeting of resources.
- Consider approaches for ensuring the long-term sustainability, ownership, maintenance and financing of national Digital Farmer Registries.
- Explore opportunities to connect DFR systems with future digital agriculture services, including weather and climate information, traceability, digital payments, market information and e-extension services.
- Strengthen regional and development-partner collaboration in supporting the digital transformation of Pacific agrifood systems.
Importance for Vanuatu
For Vanuatu, the Digital Farmer Registry represents an important foundation for developing a more coordinated and data-driven agriculture sector.
A reliable national farmer registry can provide government agencies with better information on who farmers are, where they are located, what they produce and the agricultural activities in which they are engaged. This information can support better planning, targeting of agricultural programmes and allocation of government and development-partner resources.
The DFR also has the potential to strengthen support for farmers across Vanuatu's islands, including women, youth and farmers living in remote communities, by improving their visibility within national agricultural programmes and digital service-delivery systems.