Fiji Hub Achievement Report

March 2017
Objective: Nutrition Project

Feed your Family First

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:

The 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. The projects 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 eat the new crops that they
grow, discouraging the selling 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.