The Ministry of Agriculture and SHEFA Province are holding El Nino drought preparation workshops for over 100 community representatives from each village on the islands of Nguna, Pele and Emau.
Through the Swiss-German GIZ-DEZA program, community disaster gardens are being rehabilitated with drought-tolerant crops and improved planting techniques. After Cyclone Pam in 2015, the GIZ-DEZA program quickly established community food gardens in each community on Nguna, Pele and Emau, which yielded a surplus of green vegetables that greatly improved diets and health among the islands.
Unfortunately, the current El Nino event has made planting vegetables in 2016 extremely difficult.
The Ministry of Agriculture’s 2016 GIZ DEZA program is upgrading community gardens so that they are drought-tolerant.
Tunnel houses are being constructed which, covered with shade cloth, allow sensitive vegetables to continue to grow. Combined with improved farming techniques like drip irrigation, mulching, shade tree intercropping, use of grey and recycled water, application of animal manures and green fertilizers and the use of drought-tolerant crops like manioc and pineapple, the community gardens aim to ensure that the people of North Efate’s offshore islands are able to cope with what in the coming months is expected to be the most severe drought experienced in Vanuatu for decades.
The workshops being held on Nguna, Pele and Emau this week have brought in community representatives from each of the 22 communities on these islands. Expert farmers from North Efate who have been involved in past Ministry of Agriculture projects (like the EU NARI program), were on hand to provide their long experience and techniques for raising crops and chickens in drought conditions.
Extension officers from the Department of Agriculture and Department of Livestock are facilitating the trainings which include theory and hands-on practice.
Officers from the GIZ climate change program are helping to translate the official El Nino forecasts of the Vanuatu Meteorology & Geohazards Department into messages that are most useful to the community vegetable and poultry farmers, as well as help participants understand how El Nino preparation fits into the larger climate change adaptation and disaster resilience programs of each village.
Mr. Ian Kalsuak, SHEFA province’s area council development officer, commented to participants that “decentralization is really about communities taking ownership of the disaster preparation and response in their areas, linking into area-wide activities and provincial and national programs.
“By taking action together now to prepare for the worsening El Nino drought, we are contributing to the sustainable development of our islands and our province.”
In addition to focusing on community disaster food gardens, the Ministry of Agriculture is launching a public-private partnership approach to food security response to the El Nino drought on Nguna, Pele and Emau. Over 400 households on these islands will have the opportunity to apply for one of three subsidized food security interventions: backyard vegetable gardens, backyard poultry or solar dryers. The household will be expected to cover 50% of the overall cost, while the Ministry’s GIZ-DEZA program will meet the remaining expenses.