March 2017

Fiji Babale Hub Achievement Report

Objective:

Feed your Family First initiative which GVI is promoting throughout the
village, and then Dawasamu District. This initiative will incorporate
aspects of both the kitchen garden project and the nutrition project.

Summary:

Its main aim of the kitchen garden project is to encourage families to

grow a variety of fresh fruit and vegetables which will supplement their
current diet of fish and starchy vegetables.

Report:

This month GVI staff and volunteers have made great headway with the
Kitchen Garden Project in Silana Village! This project is the backbone of
the Feed your Family First initiative which GVI is promoting throughout
the village, and ultimately the district. This initiative will incorporate
aspects of both the kitchen garden project and the nutrition project. Its
main aim is to encourage families to grow a variety of fresh fruit and
vegetables which will supplement their current diet of fish and starchy
vegetables.

The first step Silana Village had to take was to decide on an area
appropriate for the use of the new nursery plantation, this was decided on
by the Headman, Meli, with input by GVI staff member, Krisz, who has
previous agricultural experience. The actual fieldwork was then able to
begin at the beginning of March, despite some disruption due to adverse
weather conditions. The area was cleared of weeds, roots and bushes
within two days and staff, volunteers and community members were then
able to begin digging the trench and holes for the fence and roof
structure. Members of the community were able to gather enough wood
from fallen pine trees, which were damaged during Cyclone Winston,
which now form the fence and seed beds.
The community volunteers helped to assemble the fence poles around the
nursery and rocks and concrete were used to fix every pole in its hole.
Once the concrete had dried sufficiently, the nursery was fenced in with
chicken wire and a gate was attached. The three seed beds were built,
the trench filled with soil and the ground was covered with sawdust that
had been collected from the hill. The roof and the table for the nursery
were also made out of salvaged wood from the pine forest. The table was
so large that the Silana Youth were called in to help the GVI staff and
volunteers carry it!

At the end of March, the community team began delivering the Kitchen
Garden Workshop (Stage 1 and Stage 2) to members of Silana Village.
The workshops key objective currently is to ascertain the types of fruit
and vegetables that community members want to grow and the reasons
why. The next step will be to encourage families to use the new
vegetables that they grow to provide better nutrition in their meals, rather
than only as a source of cash income through the sale of fresh fruit and
vegetables at market. GVI have distributed surveys to all attendants at
the first workshop, and from the results hope to source a range of seeds
which members of the village have an interest in growing. Over the
coming months this workshop will be rolled out to all villages in
Dawasamu District.