FAO helps rebuild pride in Agriculture
'I am proud of my garden and also proud of 'agriculture' for helping me to have such a productive garden.'- Melina Lamai, farmer
Melina Lamai is a subsistence farmer from Blacksands in Port Vila, Vanuatu. Tropical Cyclone Pam struck Vanuatu on March 13 2015, causing widespread damage and destruction throughout the country. Melina was one of many affected.
Melina lives with her husband, two children and six grandchildren. Her busy lifestyle means she spends most days at home meeting the needs of the three generations in the household; cooking, cleaning and gardening are high priorities. With a family of 10, there are plenty of mouths to feed but when the cyclone hit, Melina’s garden was destroyed. The majority of her crops were lost and her family began to rely on emergency food rations which included rice, packet noodles and tin fish. However, through the Central Emergency Response Fund and FAO the ‘Emergency Support to Re-establish Food Security in Communities by Tropical Cyclone Pam’ project was launched to address these issues.
Today, various communities have received assistance to build back their gardens. A total of 13,394 households were assisted across Port Vila. FAO’s main role was to distribute seeds and leaflets alongside the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development to restore gardens. Melina was one farmer who benefitted from this outreach.
Melina received five types of seeds to rebuild her garden: dwarf beans, pumpkin, sweet corn, papaya and watermelon. These crops start producing after one month of planting (dwarf beans) to three months (sweet corn/pumpkin/watermelon) and six months (papaya). She has already harvested the dwarf beans and is eagerly waiting for the other crops to ripen.
Overall, the gardens benefit is twofold. First Melina uses the garden to support her family’s diet, producing healthy crops for cooking. She uses the excess vegetables to sell at the market where she earns a small income to help further provide for her family. Today, Melina is “really glad to receive the seeds, and now my garden is better than it was before the cyclone”.
Support for these communities is ongoing with FAO committed to assisting Ni-Vanuatu in this recovery process.