How can Pacific biosecurity partnerships make trade safer?

Why biosecurity matters for Pacific trade

When a shipment of taro leaves Samoa or the Cook Islands, the exporter needs to meet the destination market’s biosecurity requirements. That depends in part on whether local agencies can identify pests, inspect consignments and provide the required certification. Incoming cargo presents a different challenge. Soil or insects carried in a sea container can introduce pests that damage crops and disrupt livelihoods. Managing these risks effectively requires the right knowledge and tools, and a shared understanding of requirements in the sending country and the receiving country.

The Australian Government Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF) commissioned Sapere to evaluate two programs it delivers with funding from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT). The Pacific Biosecurity Partnerships Program works with Pacific Island countries and regional organisations on biosecurity, market access and coordination. Phase 3 of the Solomon Islands Biosecurity Development Program provides more intensive support to Biosecurity Solomon Islands and the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock.

We assessed effectiveness, efficiency and sustainability through a review of program documents and data, interviews with 35 stakeholders and visits to Fiji, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and Samoa. The evaluation covered both programs through October 2025, beginning in April 2020 for the regional program and December 2021 for the third phase in Solomon Islands.

What improved across the region?

DAFF’s regional program helped strengthen relationships between Pacific biosecurity agencies and their Australian counterparts. Officials consulted valued the practical training and technical support. The program also contributed to more formal pest surveillance and updates to records of which pests are present in Samoa, Tonga, the Cook Islands and Solomon Islands.

Reliable pest records help agencies decide where to focus surveillance and provide evidence that trading partners can use when assessing import risks.

The evaluation identified progress on procedures for inspecting goods and meeting import requirements, including for taro from Samoa and the Cook Islands and Tahitian lime from Vanuatu. The program also supported work on cleaner sea containers, where shared practices can help reduce the risk of moving pests between ports. These are steps towards safer trade. The evaluation found that the resulting trade outcomes, such as whether exports increased, were still to be observed or measured.

What did an in-country partnership achieve in Solomon Islands?

Having a DAFF adviser based in-country helped build trust and gave the partnership flexibility to respond to local priorities. We found that Phase 3 strengthened agency capability, staff engagement and coordination between border agencies. Local stakeholders valued the support, including training and mentoring for staff carrying out core biosecurity functions.

Preparations for the 2023 Pacific Games in Honiara showed how the approach worked in practice. The program helped Biosecurity Solomon Islands plan for increased arrivals at the airport, prepare border staff and step up surveillance and trapping around Honiara. It also helped the agency coordinate with Solomon Airlines and Tourism Solomons to get biosecurity information to travellers. The evaluation found that this work achieved its intended purpose and offered lessons for future host countries.

Day-to-day operations still face infrastructure constraints, limited staffing across the country and gaps in management systems. These affect whether agencies can apply new procedures consistently and maintain gains when external support changes.

Making the gains last

We assessed the programs as mostly effective and mostly efficient, but with mixed prospects for sustaining improvements. Contributions of DAFF staff time and expertise, along with co-funding from partners, helped extend what the programs could deliver. DAFF used approaches that equip local staff to train colleagues, which helps to retain skills within agencies. Annual budgeting made it difficult to carry out work that needed more than a year, while overlapping donor activity sometimes meant agencies were offered similar training or technical support.

Digitalising biosecurity requires soft support

Digital tools can make biosecurity work easier when agencies have the staff, procedures and ongoing support to use them in their day-to-day work.

The experience with ePhyto, a system for exchanging plant health certificates electronically, illustrates the point. Digital certificates can reduce paperwork and transcription errors, but readiness varied considerably across the Pacific. The Pacific Islands Pest List Database was also underused. Before further investment, the evaluation recommended checking what agencies need to use these tools in practice, including support for staff and changes to workflows.

Six recommendations for future Pacific biosecurity partnerships

1. Continue to coordinate regional investment. Work with Pacific governments, the Pacific Community, New Zealand and other partners to agree where their combined resources can have the greatest effect and reduce duplication. Seek better alignment of objectives and expectations between DAFF and DFAT, and with partners, as well as other relevant programs in the export and agriculture space.
2. Track agency capability over time. Consider a practical framework or maturity model suited to the Pacific that helps agencies identify their needs, prioritise support and assess changes in areas such as training and rapid response.
3. Set a clear scope for each program. If resources stay at similar levels, be explicit about which projects the programs can support and why Australia is involved.
4. Uphold relationship building as a core priority. Make the roles of partnerships between Pacific countries, technical exchanges and joint assessments clearer, including where Australia can support them.
5. Define the end of program outcomes. Define outcomes in terms of what agencies and partners should be able to do by the end of the program. Adopt a clear monitoring and evaluation plan that addresses gender and disability goals.
6. Check readiness before investing further in digital systems. Identify the staffing, training and process changes agencies need to realise benefits from electronic certification and shared pest data.

Conclusion

DAFF agreed to four recommendations and partially agreed to two. DFAT reported that it had already provided multi-year funding and worked with DAFF to clarify how the regional program expects to achieve its outcomes and how it will track progress in 2026–27. Read the Australian Government management responses.