Six identified locations in Vanuatu will benefit from a two-year Italian-funded project on ‘Irrigation for a Resilient and Sustainable Agriculture in Vanuatu’.
The Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (DARD) will implement the project.
The purpose of the project is to identify sustainable irrigation systems for vegetables production that promotes local agriculture resilience to the impacts of climate change, in particular the worsening of the effects of dry season.
The objectives of the project are to demonstrate the benefits of solar powered irrigation systems in Vanuatu, provide training and information to the agricultural communities on the benefits of solar powered irrigation systems and to provide a report on the success of this project to guide development of further sites in the future.
Irrigation system is essential in sustainable agriculture as agriculture crops rely heavily on water especially during drought period.
The type of solar irrigation technology used will improve the capacity of farmers in rural areas to farm, even in periods of uncertain rainfall, which indirectly improves the livelihoods of the communities in which the farmers live.
The project will improve the economic conditions of the farmers, their diet and indirectly through the lowering of local prices, in the rest of the population diet. It will also improve the opportunities for farming and the ability to make a consistent living out of farming, which improves the opportunities for youth into the future.
The six project sites under this project include Tagabe Agriculture Farm, Mele Farmer Growers Association farm, Malafau and Teouma bush on Efate, Tan Alkut Agriculture Farm on West Tanna, Napil Agriculture Farming Rural Training Center (NAFRTC) on Middlebush Central Tanna and Vanuatu Agriculture College (VAC) in Santo.
Photo supplied Caption: Tagabe Agriculture Farm Irrigation work in progress