Torba Province

In a Profiling exercise that took well over a week into four islands in the Torres group from March to April, a team comprising of 4 members conducted the Area Council Profiling exercise.

The programme started in March 2018 with 15 clients.

The local handicraft are produced by the weavers of Vetimboso village in west Vanualava and Motalava.

Most of their sales are distributed through the Torba Handicraft Co-operative (THC) to wholesalers mainly in Port Vila targeting a niche market with top quality products from Torba province.

"There is a high opportunity for Torba products to be sold in tourists destination such as Port Vila markets.”

25 people have been registered in the THC as co-operative members.

The storm, still a category two, is about 295 kilometres west-southwest of the country's largest island.

It's followed an unusual path and completed three loops off Santo's western coast.

In doing this, the island's been lashed with torrential rains, strong storm surges, and winds in excess of 100 kilometres an hour.

The Vanuatu Meteorological Service says Oma's proving difficult to forecast, but it is gradually moving southwest away from Vanuatu.

However, storm warnings are still in force for at least the next 24 hours.

The now Members of Parliament are Matai Seremaiah of Luganville constituency and MP Jotham Napat of Tanna Constituency.

Seremaiah was emotional during his trip to the Torba province earlier this year where he found out that all the big villages on the larger islands of Gaua, Vanualava and Motalava have not been served well in the past.

The latest cyclone warning issued by the Vanuatu Meteorological Service at 5:00am this morning says Donna is generating sustained wind speeds of 130 kilometres an hour at its centre with gusts reaching up to 190 kilometres an hour.

The system was moving in a westerly direction at about 16km/hr and threatening to make landfall in the Torres Island group.

Tourism leader, Father Luc Dini, says they want the population of Torba to embrace local organic produce instead and protect themselves from the illnesses associated with western food.

He has had junk food removed from the shelves of local stores and from holiday bungalows, and tourists are being served only locally grown products.

Tony Wilson, the editor of the Vanuatu Independent, which broke the story, says it's been picked up by news outlets all over the world.

RNZ reports Chairman of the Torba Tourism Council Father Luc Dini said the body adopted a resolution to go organic and told operators to stop serving imported food.

Father Dini said there would be health benefits and tourists may be encouraged when they hear only local produce and fish is consumed there.

He said the removal of imported food will be difficult, but targeting people who welcome tourists is a good start.