When borders closed, villages worked together on food security

Above: Live & Learn Solomon Islands, with the support of the Kastom Garden Association, provided training and material support to urban and peri-urban communities in Honiara to set up demonstration nurseries to support backyard organic gardening through the Australian Humanitarian Partnership COVID-19 response in Solomon Islands. Live & Learn monitoring staff visited the communities at Abira, Ohuiola and Green Creek to address any growing pains in the gardens and answer questions. Photos: Ernest Ta’asi /Oxfam

When Pacific countries began taking action to protect their citizens from the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, the biggest hit for many communities initially was the closing of borders, rather than the virus itself.

In Fiji and Vanuatu, border closures shut down tourism practically overnight, leaving families struggling to put food on the table. Elsewhere, food imports and other trade was interrupted, food prices spiked, movement restrictions made it harder to access markets, fewer remittances were being sent home, and prospective seasonal workers lost their chance to go overseas.

The AHP was activated for a COVID-19 response across the region to address the health and economic fallout.

Five countries – Timor-Leste, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and Fiji – already had strong country coordination functions in place from the AHP Disaster READY program, which they used to mobilise the response. In Tonga, Samoa, Kiribati and Tuvalu, Australian NGOs worked closely with local partners in-country to support COVID-19 awareness, water supply, handwashing facilities and livelihoods support.

Food security was a significant concern across the region, and in each country, AHP partners looked for local solutions to support better access to nutritious food.

While direct supply of food was part of the solution for those with immediate needs, in many cases, the most important intervention was in the backyard.

With uncertainty about how long the COVID-19 pandemic and border closures would go on for, small-scale vegetable growing has been key to community resilience.

This proved particularly important during Fiji’s outbreak of the Delta strain in 2021.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, business had been thriving for the small woodcarving community of Ketesa, located outside of Suva. But their main customers were hotels and retail stores catering to tourists. Once borders closed, the community was struggling to make ends meet.

With the support of AHP partner Church Agencies Network Disaster Operations (CAN DO), an umbrella organisation for churches and faith-based development actors, the Ketesa community was supported with agricultural kits, seedlings, agriculture training, financial literacy training and cash assistance.

The 90 residents of Ketesa gained permission from the Fiji Government to utilise an idle piece of land nearby to plant vegetables. This community farm has been a success, filling plates with healthy food while excess vegetables are sold at market.

“From that reserve land, we have planted dalo (taro), cassava and vegetables of all sorts. We have been able to put food on the table,” said Setareki Kotoisuvavou of Ketesa Methodist Church.

“It has always been a collaboration for us. We work as a community in this project where women and children tend to the vegetable farm, ensuring crops are watered daily, while men from our community dedicate two days a week to work on the farm,” Mr Kotoisuvavou said.

“We have come a long way since we started. We were able to buy the necessary equipment and organic fertilizer to help us cultivate the land and we also purchased dalo tops to extend our farm,” he added.

“When the second outbreak hit Fiji this year, we didn’t feel much, as we already had our farm to fall back on.”

Photo: Agriculture is now supporting food security and livelihoods for the Ketesa community. Credit: CAN DO Fiji

Elsewhere in Fiji, taxi driver Mohammed Sameem had a similar experience when the second wave of COVID-19 hit. He too had a thriving vegetable garden at his home in Sigatoka after support from CAN DO through the AHP activation.

"The taxi business isn't going well. Most of the time it is just parked at home. I wasn't driving when we had the second outbreak, but we were getting help from the vegetables that we planted,” Mohammed said.

"I'm thankful to Father John [of the Anglican Church] for thinking about us regardless of our religious background. He shared the seeds in the neighbourhood to those who lost their jobs or had reduced hours and it has been really helpful with our food supplies," he said.

The AHP COVID-19 response has supported a range of food security initiatives across the region.

Thriving demonstration and community nurseries have inspired communities in Solomon Islands to expand their home gardens both in the capital Honiara as well as in more remote communities, while providing seedlings and information on important topics such as pest control and planting techniques.

“This has been very beneficial to us,” said Mary, a mother of five and the sole provider for her family in Guadalcanal, of a Save the Children-implemented project in her village. “In the past we did not have such nursery houses and we are very happy with it being established, because we have learned a lot from it.”

In Papua New Guinea, Oxfam has supplied communities with high-protein corn seeds to improve nutrition as well as supplies for bulb onion farming, a significant cash crop, to support livelihoods.

Above: As part of the AHP COVID-19 response in Papua New Guinea, high-protein corn seeds were distributed to more than 500 households in Simbu, targeting rural communities where protein deficiency has been identified, particularly among children. The seeds were supplied by the National Agriculture Research Institute (NARI), and some 18kg were distributed in June with AHP support through partner NGO Oxfam. In the photo, Oxfam's Livelihoods Officer is treating the seeds prior to distribution. Photo: Kuayo Henry/Oxfam in PNG

In Tonga, farming clusters in 23 communities worked together to support household food security by growing vegetables collectively in shared allotments, while in Vanuatu, women were supported to boost their kitchen gardens through training. In Samoa, a partnership between CARE Australia, Women in Business Development and the national disability advocacy organisation Nuanua O Le Alofa also supported accessible home gardens and food self-sufficiency.

The collective efforts of partners in the AHP response are being assessed through a continuing evaluation focusing on food security, and it is hoped that the gardens established under the activation will continue to support communities and households well after borders have reopened, bolstering resilience to future disasters or crises.