Kastom Gaden Association (KGA) yesterday took delivery of 10 cartons of books from Learn & Grow Solomon Islands Project. The books are called Food Plants of Solomon Islands; and the two field books are called Good Gardening and Growing Root Crops in Solomon Islands and Leafy Greens and Vegetables in Solomon Islands and were delivered to KGA by Learn & Grow Solomon Islands Project representative, Mr Mark Johnston. The books were authored by B Reg French a well known agriculturalist who has worked and lived in PNG for some years and short times in the Solomons.
The Learn & Grow Solomon Islands Project
The Learn & Grow Solomon Islands Project is a project of the Rotary Clubs of Devonport North (Australia) and Honiara and Food Plants International, of which KGA is an implementing partner. Its objective is to increase understanding and value of local food plants in enhanced nutrition and food security.
About the books
The information in the book are taken from Mr Reg French’s database of edible plants of the world, an attempt to document any plant recorded or known as being eaten by people. The main focus is on the vast number of attractive, highly nutritious and often ignored, under-exploited or poorly understood plants that offer more balanced diets and sustainable production systems, especially for those in rural villages of Solomon Islands.
Mr French said, the quickest way to improve diets is to widen the range of food plants you eat. Then if something needed by our bodies to grow and stay healthy is missing in one food, it will be found in another. For example, corn is short of an essential amino acid called lysine, but it can easily be provided by adding a few beans to the pot.
How KGA will distribute the books
Kastom Gaden Association will distribute and disseminate the books and information provided through its current network of farmers, rural partners, interested groups and individuals. The aim is to educate and raise awareness of other nutritious food plants which are grown in the wild and edible, which could also substitute normal garden crops to enhance food security among rural families.
Adding value
…the books will add value and compliment our current AusAID funded “Strenghtening Food Security & Rural Livelihood” project …Mr Clement Hadosaia
In thanking Learn & Grow Solomon Islands Project for the books, KGA’s representative Mr Clement Hadosaia said that the books will add value and compliment our current AusAID funded “Strenghtening Food Security & Rural Livelihood” project. Essentially we have been advocating about the richness of our local food crops and encourage people to eat more of them to sustain a healthy life. The introduction of these books will further strenghtened that focus which we hope our people will find it interesting as they will come to realise the benefit of other food plants bring to their diets as substition, he said.
The Learn & Grow Solomon Islands Project was launched in Honiara on 17th August 2010.
