Mand Village Receives Training in Farming Techniques

By Amy Levendusky

On Thursday, March 30, 2006, the Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) conducted its first public workshop in Mand to transfer new and relevant farming techniques to community members. This involved setting up a community demonstration garden near Mand Community Hall and was attended by 20 Mand men and women.

This workshop will be followed by a series of weekly or bi-weekly visits in the coming year, which will be coordinated by the assistance of Kiped Albert of Pohnpei Agriculture. The program has been established as inter-agency efforts of Pohnpei Agriculture, NRCS, and the Island Food Community of Pohnpei (IFCP) with Mand Community, as a part of the over-all IFCP coordinated project in Mand.

The NRCS project in Mand has the overall aims to provide technical assistance in growing culturally acceptable vegetables for home consumption and local sales and to assist in developing skills in nurseries and propagating planting material, including that of rare banana varieties. A total of four community demonstration gardens and nurseries and 14 home demonstration gardens will be established at different locations in Mand.

During the workshop, Phil Giles and Gibson Santos of NRCS demonstrated the construction of a 4x4 box using bamboo poles. Francisco Rosario, Mand Community member, provided the bamboo poles. Rice bags were placed in the bottom of the box. Community members were then shown how to mix soil with compost and the soil was placed on top of the rice bags. A total of 24 Chinese cabbage seedlings were planted inside the bamboo box. Leaves were placed on top of the soil between the cabbage plants to protect the soil from direct sunlight and erosion. The leaves also serve the purpose of holding moisture and minimizing re-growth of grass and weeds. The community members were very enthusiastic about the demonstration and have requested for seeds to be sold in the village.

IFCP and Mand Community would like to extend its thanks to the Natural Resource Conservation Service and to Pohnpei State Agriculture, Office of Economic Affairs for the workshop and looks forward to the coming events in the project.