PGEP links 15 000 growers in the Pacific Region into the international market by developing commercial trading platforms and building alliances that ignite action across the Pacific Region in which all partners are committed to each others success.

The PGEP is already a functional trading platform. On average 20% of the FOB price is spent on in country administrative and logistic‘s expenses, with 80% of the value being paid directly to growers. The aim of the PGEP is to be a self sustaining trading network by 2012, provided funding can be found to continue to support the initiative and the capacity of the PGEP members.

There are two components to the PGEP – an upstream and downstream component. The upstream component is production, processing and export of Pacific commodities within the Pacific Islands (initially coconut oil and cocoa, later carbon credits and others). Production is either done by individual growers or by growers organized in groups. Some of these groups already exist – others have to be developed. Under the PGEP, producers (or groups) sell their produce to local business centres which carry out primary processing tasks, such as pressing of virgin coconut oil and fermenting and drying of cocoa. The processed product is then be exported by a licensed exporter, who may also be the business centre.

The downstream part of the PGEP connects Pacific Island producers to the world market and a transparent business support infrastructure. Training, business support, regular market information and knowledge to producers and producer groups is provided, enabling producers to play a more strategic role, take on a stronger negotiating position and make informed decisions within this challenging business environment.  An open source information system- either web-based or mobile phone based – is anticipated to play a key role in this process.

This information system is used to exchange information on prices, orders, volume, best practices, etc allowing growers to validate information they are receiving (e.g. price quotations) and allowing for monitoring of the actual behaviour of actors in the supply network. Where needed, local business centres can develop local solutions for linking growers to the information system.

Value-adding through the marketing of ’Pacific Story” brands as well as organic and free trade certification are being developed. Discussions are already well underway with the Free Trade Association of Australia and New Zealand regarding certification and cooperative approaches.   The PGEP Information system allows producers to validate whether the price offered is fair and provide the possibility to bargain collectively (locally, nationally, regionally) through the system. As information becomes increasingly available, greater efficiencies in the supply chain are also expected and producers’ capacity to use the system to their advantage will be built.

The programme also includes the establishment of a “PGEP” Foundation fund whereby each link in the downstream supply chain is encouraged to pay 2% of its revenue from PGEP sales to a fund to be used for social infrastructure projects in growers’ communities.

In the longer term, it is anticipated that PGEP could be used for other Pacific Island commodities.

Pacific Growers Export Partnership – Challenging Aspirations from andreas lombardozzi on Vimeo.