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Taiwan Technical Mission helps Republic of the Marshall Islands establish an outlying island farm to increase the diversity of local fruit and vegetable supply
In line with the food security policy of Taiwan’s ally the Marshall Islands and to solve the situation of insufficient resources on the country’s outlying islands, at the end of 2021, the Taiwan International Cooperation and Development Fund (TaiwanICDF) Technical Mission in the Marshall Islands opened a farm on Kwajalein, the second most populous outlying island. Overcoming the poor soil and limited manpower and resources, within a short period of time various tasks were completed including soil preparation from scratch, the erecting of a simple greenhouse, and the building of fruit and vegetable growing beds. Fruit and vegetables were successfully produced in March this year, giving locals more dietary diversity.
The outlying islands of the Marshall Islands are remote and transport is inconvenient. The soil is mainly coral rock and sea sand, restricting local agricultural development. For a long time, the food of residents and students on the islands has mainly been instant noodles and canned food delivered by supply ships that can be stored for a long time, with almost no fresh fruit and vegetables produced locally. This situation means that the residents have long had an imbalanced diet, increasing the risk of chronic diseases. When the sea is rough or the supply ship breaks down and supplies can’t be delivered, residents’ lives are seriously affected.
To resolve the aforementioned situation, the TaiwanICDF Technical Mission and the Marshall Islands Ministry of Natural Resources and Commerce inspected each outlying island and, in the end, chose the second most populous island Kwajalein as the location for the first outlying island farm to be developed. The TaiwanICDF dispatched a horticultural technician to Kwajalein and used limited resources to build growing beds, mix potting soil and adopt environmentally friendly farming techniques to realize local production. The farm now produces 13 crops including papaya, dragon fruit, taro, and water spinach that are loved by the local government and people.
In the future, the Technical Mission will continue to produce diverse fruit and vegetables locally for group consumption by local hospitals and schools and will also provide training to encourage residents to establish vegetable gardens at home to further increase local fruit and vegetable output. This will be matched with nutrition promotion activities to give the people of the Marshall Islands good dietary concepts and habits, with the aim of making their diet more balanced and thus lowering the risk of chronic diseases.
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- Update: 2022/05/19
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