Resilient crops to increase food security

Collin, 19, is from a small village in the Solomon Islands. He attends school nearby with his four younger siblings.
Collin and his parents are learning how to increase the amount of fruits and vegetables that they grow at home so that the whole family has enough nutritious food to eat. They joined other community members at Collin’s school to learn how to pick a suitable gardening site. They practiced making organic fertiliser as well as organic mulch using materials found around a typical Solomon Islander home - including coconut husks and palm fronds. These training sessions put on by Save the Children are critical for families in rural areas particularly - many of whom rely on their backyard gardens to eat almost entirely.

The Growing Food, Livelihoods, and Resilience project in the Solomon Islands is helping families to increase the amount of food that they can grow in their backyard gardens thereby improving food security for many Solomon Islander children. Working in partnership with the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock, this project provides training in organic gardening and organic permaculture to young people as well as their parents. In addition, it develops community demonstration sites where best practice is shared. Both tools and crops that are more resilient to climate change have been distributed to community members like Collin to use in their gardens as well.