[ti:Pacific Islanders Start Gardening during the Pandemic]
[al:As It Is]
[ar:VOA]
[dt:2021-01-04]
[by:www.voase.cn]
[00:00.00]Islands in the Pacific Ocean have few coronavirus cases.
[00:05.45]But the pandemic has caused problems by interfering with supplies, causing price increases and a loss of business from foreign visitors.
[00:16.74]Many governments have started community projects to help their citizens with food shortages. 
[00:25.22]They are extending fishing seasons, expanding food gathering training and supporting seed programs. 
[00:34.85]These programs are helping residents to become more self-reliant.
[00:41.83]"We initially started with 5,000 seeds and thought we would finish them in nine months' time.
[00:50.22]But there was a very big response, and we finished distributing the seeds in one week," said Vinesh Kumar, head of operation for Fiji's Agriculture Ministry.
[01:03.37]The project provides people with vegetable seeds, small trees and basic farming equipment to help them grow their own home gardens.
[01:15.03]Elisabeta Waqa is a Fiji resident.
[01:19.10]She said she had thought about starting a garden before the global COVID-19 pandemic.
[01:26.12]But with no job, extra time at home and seeds from the ministry and friends, she finally took action.
[01:35.23]Looking to have "zero financial investment," Waqa collected whatever containers she could find to raise plants in.
[01:45.23]Soon her land had several containers with green beans, cucumber and cabbage growing in them.
[01:53.85]"When I started harvesting about two, three weeks later, that's when I realized: My gosh, this is a hobby people have had for so long. I thought about just how much money I could save by doing this," Waqa said.
[02:12.22]In many Pacific island countries and territories, people have moved from traditional agricultural work to the tourism industry.
[02:23.14]As a result, island people have become used to eating processed, imported food instead of the traditional locally grown foods like yams and taro.
[02:35.15]Eriko Hibi is the director of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations Liaison Office in Japan. 
[02:46.12]She called the change a "triple burden" of health issues: undernutrition, micronutrient deficiencies and obesity.
[02:56.90]When the pandemic started, many countries closed their borders.
[03:02.81]This affected supply lines for important products, including fertilizer and food.
[03:09.73]Shortages then caused prices to rise.
[03:14.28]In Suva, Fiji, the cost of some fresh fruits and vegetables rose by up to 75 percent during the first weeks of the pandemic.
[03:25.72]At the same time, tourism stopped. 
[03:29.86]Hibi said tourism makes up to 70 percent of some countries' economies. 
[03:35.78]Thousands were left unemployed. 
[03:39.58]Hibi added that not only are there fewer products available, 
[03:44.65]but people can buy less with the money they have.
[03:48.83]In Tuvalu, the government started teaching young people indigenous food production methods, such as taro planting and sap collection from coconut trees.
[04:00.82]In Fiji, the government extended the fishing season of coral trout and grouper that could be sold for income or used as food.
[04:11.47]Other governments want residents to move back to rural areas that had stronger independent food resources.
[04:20.33]Elisabeta Waqa has started to work at her job again. 
[04:24.87]But she has taught her older children how to take care of the garden and harvest vegetables while she is at work.
[04:34.16]"Now I save money on food, know where my food is coming from and just feel more secure about having food," she said.
[04:43.19]"I don't want to go back to the way things were before."
[04:47.72]I'm Armen Kassabian.