| ID: | 86677 |
|---|---|
| Country: | Tonga |
| Title: | Tonga - Pacific Islands Rural and Agriculture Stimulus Facility (PIRAS) - November 2022 |
| Description: |
Latunofa Katoa, 20 years old, is from Makaunga, a small village located on the north-eastern coast of Tongatapu, Tonga’s main island. She has two brothers and two sisters, all of whom migrate seasonally to Australia to pick fruit and send remittances back home to the family. As the youngest child, she has remained in Tonga to help her parents, and also studies economics at the University of the South Pacific in Nuku’alofa, Tonga’s capital city. The people of Tonga faced many challenges due to COVID19, all of which were compounded in Latunofa’s island community in the aftermath of the January 2022 Hunga Tonga Hunga Ha’apai (HTHH) volcanic eruption and tsunami. The IFAD-funded Pacific Islands Rural and Agriculture Stimulus Facility (PIRAS) provided assistance at this critical time, helping to alleviate hardships and empowering the islanders to enhance food production for their families. Latunofa joined a PIRAS-supported youth group that received training on improved farming and gardening practices, as well as tools and other inputs to help make land cultivation more efficient and less labour intensive. “Before COVID, I used to spend my time at school and going out with friends, doing nothing. But during the COVID lockdown, we didn’t have much money and I realized how hard times were. I decided to help my father with the difficult work of growing food for our family, working on the cluster farm about five hours each day.” Latunofa proudly contributes to her family’s food security, and is also adding to the household income by selling surplus crops at the local markets. MORDI Tonga Trust is the local implementing partner for PIRAS, which complements the IFAD-funded Tonga Rural Innovation Programme (TRIP II) project. Working in partnership and with the financial support of DFAT (AUSAid), PIRAS provided COVID19 recovery intervention to tackle the urgent agricultural needs emerging from HTHH. TRIP II helps the islanders develop and implement their community-driven development plans, and supports them to increase production capacity of nutritious, locally grown foods. |
| Size: | 12.36 MB; 5472 x 3648 pixels; 463 x 309 mm (print at 300 DPI); 1448 x 965 mm (screen at 96 DPI); |
| Show more details: | Barbara Gravelli |
| Copyright: | ©IFAD/Barbara Gravelli |
| Categories: | New from Asia and the Pacific |
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