1. Policy advocacy and implementation support

Provide technical input for agricultural policies and support the implementation of both current and future agricultural interventions. The Institute plans to develop a data hub to record and analyse agricultural activities, outputs, and outcomes, with the findings shared to inform policy and programming decisions.

2. Learning platform

Develop a platform for agriculturists to align scientific knowledge and innovation with practical agricultural experience. The platform aims to provide training, workshops, and extension services to enhance local capacity, involving collaboration between farmers and institutions. Institutions include government ministries, development organizations, and academic entities. It is planned that Information from this collaboration will be disseminated nationally and through international seminars and publications.

3. Awareness

Raise awareness among communities about agroecology, climate-smart agriculture, and biodiversity conservation. This will address sustainability considerations by discussing economic, sociocultural, and environmental trade-offs. Awareness programmes will be directed toward agricultural stakeholders, schools, community groups, and media outlets.

4. Monitoring and Evaluation

Implement systems to monitor and evaluate the impact and value of policies and programmes on small island agricultural initiatives.

5. Funding and Partnerships

Investigate funding sources from multilateral and bilateral agencies, as well as philanthropic organisations. Facilitate partnerships for knowledge sharing and learning among farmers, government bodies, international development groups, and research institutions. Promote the exchange of agricultural expertise.

6. Research

Develop innovative research projects/grant proposals and co-organize research symposia and seminars. This will advance knowledge in sustainable agricultural practices for small island states and those communities constrained by smallness and isolation.

The six objectives will be supported in their delivery by four dedicated work packages.

Work Packages

ISIA will focus on four fully costed work packages covering a ten-year research cycle.

The work packages will enhance food security, particularly in the Maldives, where we are based. We anticipate that our research and capacity-building efforts will empower small and medium food producers through education and knowledge, ultimately leading to safer food production and reduced food imports.  

We envisage a high degree of replicability in the work packages for other Small Island States and those communities constrained by the determinants of smallness and isolation. 

ISIA have devised four research-based work packages covering a ten-year research cycle. Imperial College London has contributed input into the design of the work packages, and Professor Sir Gordon Conway provided inspiration and support for the establishment of ISIA.

Work package 1 - Knowledge Exchange Programme:

Aims:

• Establish how the experiences of farmers can link with technological innovation in production, marketing, nutrition, diet, and ecosystem conservation.
• Design and implement farmer toolkits to assist profitable and sustainable agricultural business models. 

Objectives: 

• To understand the cultural values and interest in engaging in agriculture. 
• To understand the Island residents’ health and welfare needs relating to food. 
• To collate knowledge and data on past and present agricultural activities, outputs, and outcomes.
• To build the capacity of Maldivian data collectors and analysts in qualitative research methodologies.
• To assemble datasets in a user-friendly agricultural database for all agricultural stakeholders.
• To cross-match the agricultural database with datasets in related fields such as gender empowerment, transport connectivity, land tenure, land stewardship, and marine/terrestrial resource management.

Work Package 2: Biodiversity Inventory & Interaction Networks.

Aims:

• Characterise island biodiversity to determine the impacts of varied agricultural practices on co-occurring ecosystems to address UN Sustainability Goals.
• Determine and monitor beneficial and detrimental functional groups of organisms for Maldivian agriculture to establish the most financially and ecologically appropriate crops to farm.

Objectives: 

• Conduct the most comprehensive survey of Maldivian terrestrial biodiversity by developing a Maldivian DNA barcoding project from large-scale sampling
• Construct focal crop ecological networks to determine which species the networks most strongly interact with beneficially or detrimentally.
• Determine where crops sit within the wider ecological network to understand which surrounding habitats should be conserved to harness beneficial organisms as a Nature Based Solution for crop protection.
• Develop sampling platforms and molecular tools for semi-automated long-term agri-ecosystem monitoring. This can predict seasonal patterns of biodiversity and indicators of island ecosystem health.

Work Package 3: Soil/Substrate Chemistry and Microbiology.

Aims: 

• Assess the spatial variation in the chemical composition of soils and/or substrates to determine quality, pollutant contamination, and suitability for focal crops.
• Characterize the soil microbiome to understand the biological health of soils and identify beneficial and pest organisms.

Objectives: 

• Measure the chemical properties of soil/substrate at different points across the islands to identify the most suitable places for crops to be grown. This will also inform where and when soil fertilization and irrigation might be required.
• Determine levels of soil contamination from chemical compounds such as pesticides and other chemicals.
• Identify and describe soil-dwelling organisms that both enhance (e.g., decomposers, nitrogen fixers) and detrimentally affect (e.g., root pathogens) crop health. 
• Use the results from objectives 1-3 to understand indicators of soil health and develop a cheap and scalable toolkit for monitoring soil quality.

Work Package 4: Macro and Micro-Climate Monitoring and Modelling. 

Aims: 

• Combine macro and microclimate modelling and experimentation to develop a framework for developing climate-smart agriculture across islands.
• To forecast what agriculture should look like in the future across islands.

Objectives: 

• Understand variation in terrestrial climate conditions across different spatial scales between and within island ecosystems.
• Develop climate models to forecast regional terrestrial conditions to understand interannual variation and dynamics. 
• Nested within regional projections, use micro-climate data to model temperature, wind, and water level dynamics to inform crop climate niche modelling to understand crop suitability and aid management/mitigation.
• Using data on spatial and seasonal biodiversity responses to climate to gain insights into how focal crops could be impacted beneficially or detrimentally.