Farm Support Association

“The objective was to uplift the skills of young farmers and practice their farming knowledge,” says Peter Koah, the Association Director of Farm Support Association.

“The nurseries built will support the young farmers to produce off season vegetables to restore the income generating activities during COVID-19 and volcano ash falling training gaps.”

Peter Koah said the training was conducted by the Napil Rural Training Centre as hands on exercise in the respective location identified by young farmers.

Peter Koah, the Association Director of Farm Support Association said farmers in rural areas are not able to access seeds for sale in urban areas and have to use networks, usually family, to purchase seeds.

“Access to vegetable seeds is always challenging for small scale farmers in Vanuatu and there’s a big need to address the issue,” says Peter Koah, the Association Director of Farm Support Association. “Napil Training Centre will be planting and multiplying open pollinated seeds that will be used later during disasters and when other issues arise.”

“We’ve delivered 8 sessions of queen rearing conducted on Tanna; 10 successful queens bred, 6 survived and were introduced to 5 new hives in Vila,” says  Peter Koah, the Associate Director of Farm Support Association. “Grafting of queen is very new to Farm Support Association and Tanna Coffee Bee, the success rate of the last 8 session was too low.”

“Going forward, we’ve identified areas to be improved with more exercises planned for the year.”

Peter Koah said wild harvest of queen colonies continue to take place on Tanna Island to boost honey production.