A copra and cocoa storage and buying centre funded under the China-backed Rural Sustainable Development Programme was handed over to the Kaevanga Community Development Association in Isabel Province on 7 October 2026.
Community members at the copra storage and buying centre handed over to the Kaevanga Community Development Association, Isabel Province.
Source: MRD Media
Copra and cocoa farmers in the Kolotubi and Kolomola Wards of Isabel Province now have a dedicated place to store and sell their produce, after a buying centre was handed over to the Kaevanga Community Development Association on 7 October 2026.
The facility was funded under the 2025 Rural Sustainable Development Programme (RSDP) and delivered in partnership between the Solomon Islands Government and the People's Republic of China. It serves farmers in the two wards of the Hograno-Kia-Havulei (HKH) Constituency.
The constituency received SBD$1.5 million under the second phase of the China-funded programme in 2025, facilitated by the Constituency Office under Member of Parliament and former prime minister Jeremiah Manele. The allocation was split equally between agriculture and fisheries.
SBD$750,000 went to the association to set up the buying centre, provide working capital for farmers, build and equip dryers, rehabilitate plantations, support livestock activities and meet transport and other programme logistics. The remaining half goes to seaweed farming in Havulei, Kia and Katova Wards, a project due to start soon.
Manele said Hograno is the most agriculture-rich part of the constituency, and that he allocated half of the second phase funds to the association in recognition of that history and comparative advantage. He thanked the People's Republic of China for its support and the Ministry of Rural Development for running the programme in constituencies around the country.
The association began buying copra in June 2026 and has since bought about 580 bags of dried copra and 26 bags of dried cocoa beans from local farmers, selling them to markets in Honiara. The centre brings market access to farmers' doorsteps, so they no longer have to arrange their own sales in Honiara.
Association chairman and chief Dudley Longamei said the income is reaching households for school fees, household needs and small businesses.
"KCDA is building a local agricultural value chain linking production, drying and processing, buying and marketing," Longamei said.
He said the programme has also supported dryers, farming tools and inputs, plantation rehabilitation, nurseries and new planting, and kava, poultry and piggery activities. Those reached include 368 families with about 41,345 coconut plants, 276 families with about 21,200 cocoa plants and 539 families with about 18,512 kava plants.
Ministry of Rural Development Permanent Secretary John Misite'e congratulated the association and its members, and said the handover showed the partnership between the two governments and a shared commitment to improving rural livelihoods. He told those present to take responsibility for making the facility benefit the local economy and the community.
Constituency Development Officer Apollos Manegere said the project was made possible by funding from the People's Republic of China through the programme, and that it was now for the community to maintain and use well.
Manele, Misite'e and their team also visited member farmers and inspected the association's cocoa and copra dryers. The handover was attended by ministry staff, ward provincial members, government representatives, chiefs, elders and community leaders, association board members and farmers, women, youth and children.
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