This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: For thousands of years, farmers in the Pacific have lived in harmony with their environment. But rising temperatures, unpredictable rainfall and tired soils are testing even the most experienced hands.
Farmers are now looking back to rediscover their ancestors' wisdom while embracing new scientific ideas to farm sustainably and adapt to a changing climate. For the past three years, our multinational research project has supported these efforts by working closely with farmers, researchers and government officials in Samoa and Tonga. Led by the University of Melbourne, in partnership with the University of the South Pacific (USP), Samoa Campus, MORDI-Tonga Trust (MORDI-TT), and Lincoln University in New Zealand, the project demonstrates how traditional knowledge combined with Sustainable Agriculture Intensification (SAI) principles can create practical pathways to sustainable, resilient farming.
The SAI goals focus on raising productivity, increasing resource-use efficiency and reducing the negative environmental impacts of agriculture—all critical elements of a sustainable farming future. Combining the SAI goals with traditional knowledge is helping farmers better adapt to the pressing challenges of climate change, including drought, declining soil health and weed pressure (the percentage of weeds in the total volume of both crops and weeds in a given area). By working hand-in-hand with farmers through genuine co-design and local partnerships, we've built deep trust and a sense of ownership among participating farmers.
Each country has both farmer-managed trial sites and controlled research sites. Farmers test practices under real-world conditions, while research sites generate detailed biophysical data using the same treatments. Together, these trials provide insights into both the practical application and scientific performance of SAI practices, providing a strong foundation for scaling up successful practices across the Pacific.
In both Samoa and Tonga, farmers face dual pressures of prolonged droughts and irregular rainfall, as well as rising costs of agricultural inputs, particularly herbicides. SAI practices help address these issues by improving weed management, plant water availability and soil health while reducing reliance on chemical inputs. Taro (Colocasia esculenta) is central to Samoan diets and cultural identity and is also an important export crop.
It is a carbohydrate-rich staple, consumed both fresh and in processed products like flour, chips, noodles and baby food. Discover the latest in science, tech, and space with over 100,000 subscribers who rely on Phys.org for daily insights. d research that matter—daily or weekly. Current techniques that use chemical weed killers to grow taro are costly and negatively affect soil health and the surrounding environment.
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