Rokotanikeni Women’s Association members in West Are Are villages of Harimou and Komuhaoru had learned new skills on how to make organic vegetable gardens around their backyard (homes). The training was conducted by Mrs Roselyn Kabu, KGA’s Program Support Officer for Women & Nutritional Health. Topics covered includes site plan, composting, mulching, different types/methods used to plant crops, soil preparation, nursery, transplanting, daily care (management) of the garden and aspects of pest management.
The training is part of Rokotanikeni Women’s Association’s agreed activity plan with Kastom Gaden Association program, under the partnership agreement between the two organisations. Attending the training were 25 womens from Harumou and 25 from Komuhaoru villages respectively.
Nursery boxes
The 3 days training at each location has enabled the womens from these villages to learn practical skills on how to grow and maintain a sustainable backyard garden. They were also told about the importance and nutritional benefits of the crops and what they do to our bodies. According to Ms Janet Airahui the Partner Coordinator, the training is timely and important to our womens especially when our village population is rapidly increasing and land space is becoming limited to grow foods. At the sametime, our peoples live in different areas with different environments and therefore the different planting methods /technigues learned will enable us to apply them in our different village settings.
The work of Rototanikeni Womens Association in promoting food security through improved gardening methods is thanks to support from the Australian Government in their assistance to Kastom Gaden Association under the AusAID Agriculture Livelihoods Program.
Nursery preparation
