Climate change impacts have forced villagers of Suweni in Cakaudrove to farm inland as dry weather has affected nearby farms.
Village headman Tevita Vakatalecaka said they had not been able to plant crops and vegetables in the village boundary because of hardened dry soil.
The villagers attended a two-day climate smart agriculture training facilitated by Live N Learn and funded by the American government.
“In the past, with our fathers and our time as young men, we used to plant around our house and just nearby,” he said.
“But now, the climate change impact has really affected our nearby farms and we have to move inland to plant crops like dalo, cassava and other food.
“So in this training, we have learnt the different types of resilient crops such as yams that we can store for a longer period compared to other crops.”
Yams, Mr Vakatalecaka, said could be stored and kept during natural disasters.
“Climate change is real and we have seen the impacts even though we live in the mountain areas and far from the sea, the soil is affected,” he said.
“The prolonged dry weather has made it worse for us because our water supply is affected so this training will help us greatly. Live N Learn’s drought recovery and resilience project manager Kolosa Mateibalavu said the training was aimed at supporting household livelihoods and improving food security and nutrition.
“They are also taught climate smart farm practices to address negative impacts of climate change and this project has received funding from the US Government for 29 communities and we have covered six communities since February this year,” he said.
“The villagers keep their traditional farming methods but are added with new techniques and science which is why we work with the Ministry of Agriculture.
“Yams are crops they can store for disaster periods and we are glad that villagers are seeing the importance of this training.”
