Posted on October, 20 2020

The training session is part of the Living with Change: Resilient Mangroves, Fisheries & People of Fiji & Papua New Guinea project which is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation  Development and WWF-Germany.
 
Community leaders and representatives were provided hands on training sessions on how to value add  and preserve local fruits in addition to important food preservation techniques.
 
“No wheat flour or sugar is allowed during the training and community representatives learnt how to preserve fruits such as pawpaw, banana,mangoes and pineapple by drying them to make healthy nutritious snacks as well as minimize food wastage by opting to make flour from local root crops such as cassava, kumala and vudi as well as pancakes from coconut flour,” said WWF-Pacific Great Sea Reef programme manager Alfred Ralifo.
 
The community representatives also learnt about the importance of sustainable farming techniques for backyard gardening especially the need to have access to safe nutritious food which is essential as part of their response to the Covid 19 pandemic.
 
“These 70 community representatives have improved their skills by opting to use a lot of local produce found in their forests and gardens which enables them to create products that are nutritious , saves money, ensures food and nutritional security as well as the potential to sell the surplus for their livelihood,” Ralifo added.