Eighty-three households in the villages of Kavula and Banikea in the district of Lekutu, Bua, received farming tool kits from Live & Learn Fiji, as part of the Climate Resilient Islands programme.

The CRI programme being implemented in nine communities in the northern division distributed 43 tool kits in Kavula village and 40 tool kits in Banikea village respectively, as the first step to ensuring household food security and resilience to the impacts of climate change.

The CRI team, in partnership with the Ministry of Agriculture, distributed the farming tool kits on the back of Farming as a Business training carried out by the Land Use Department last year.

The Senior Agriculture Officer for the Bua province, Mr. Anare Leweniqila, challenged the farmers’ groups in the individual villages to take this opportunity to plant more crops for commercial purposes, in addition to subsistence farming. Mr. Leweniqila also shared the importance of establishing a village co-operative to assist communities in their farming businesses.

Mr. Maikeli Sogari, leader of the Kavula farmers’ group, aims to build up the farmers group by strengthening the indigenous practice of solesolevaki, in order to plant more and plant smarter by planting together.

Climate Resilient Islands is a New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade initiative, implemented by Live & Learn Environmental Education, with funding provided by the New Zealand Government.