| ID: | 86061 |
|---|---|
| Country: | Solomon Islands |
| Title: | Solomon Islands - Pacific Islands Rural and Agriculture Stimulus Facility (PIRAS) - November 2022 |
| Description: |
Ria Tako Duddley is one of 40 women members of the Tirokoqu Association in Tirokoqu Village on Gizo Island, Western Province. The group, established in March 2022 with PIRAS support, started with two days of training under the guidance of the local implementing partner, Kastom Garden Association, on how to make compost, operate a seedling nursery and improve planting and cultivation practices. Since then, they meet with an extension officer once a week at the association’s nursery and garden plot to learn more skills and talk about the successes and challenges they are experiencing in their own gardens. PIRAS targets women and young farmers who were impacted by COVID-19-related lockdowns and trade disruptions. Kastom Garden worked with the community to improve their food security by supporting family nutrition and encouraging self-reliance and sustainable, organic food production. To do so, extension workers have helped the women return to the basics of growing local food crops and to understand how these nutritious foods help combat non-communicable disease. “I struggled to feed my family before. The project gave me seeds and seedlings for my garden and tools, like a wheelbarrow, that help me. I learned many things from the training, such as the importance of healthy nutrition. I produce more food for my family now and earn money selling vegetables at the market.” The women have learned how to plant a variety of food crops in their plots using intercropping and rotation techniques, and to use organic waste and plants as fertilizer and pest control. For example, using pounded chili and neem leaves as insecticides to control insects and pests is highly effective and has no cost to the women. PIRAS is a collaboration between the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the Australian Government that supports food system and economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic in the Pacific. Working through local implementing partner, Kastom Garden Association, the programme prioritizes strengthening food self-reliance, improving local nutrition and developing sustainable, equitable agricultural livelihood opportunities for 30 island communities in Solomon Islands’ Western, Choiseul and Central provinces. |
| Size: | 14.97 MB; 4863 x 3242 pixels; 412 x 274 mm (print at 300 DPI); 1287 x 858 mm (screen at 96 DPI); |
| Show more details: | ©IFAD/Barbara Gravelli |
| Copyright: | ©IFAD/Barbara Gravelli |
| Categories: | New from Asia and the Pacific |
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