Seed nurseries a remarkable success

In 2007, Cyclone Guba devastated Papua New Guinea's Northern Province. The Foundation responded by building three Seed Multiplication Nurseries in the Province and importing urgently needed strains of agriculture to distribute to flood stricken communities. In 2009, our teams in PNG have distributed over 40,000 suckers and tubers and have developed 29 satellite nurseries throughout the Province.

Strains of taro, cassava, sweet potato, banana, watermelon, and aibika (among others) have been distributed to hundreds of communities that were affected by Cyclone Guba. After a cyclone destroys food gardens it is vital that the necessary strains of crops are imported and planted in order for gardens to be sustainable, nutritious, and pest free.

Our teams on the ground are also providing training for communities who are restarting their food gardens and to date have already provided this training to over 500 people throughout the Province.

In 2010, the Foundation will continue to support the seed nurseries and we will move the program into a further distribution phase, whereby communities that are only accessible by water will be targeted. This program is now even more important due to the recent flooding throughout the Province that has again destroyed many community food gardens. The Foundation will continue to support those communities that are most in need.