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Tonga project team
Bob Buster Orchards:
Mr Bob Buster (Team Leader)
Mr Jacob Buster
MORDI Tonga Trust started as a project in 2007 and was registered as a NGO in 2009. Its purpose is to empower isolated rural communities to fight against poverty. MORDI’s main goal is to contribute to the improved sustainable livelihoods of vulnerable communities in rural areas in Tonga. This is achieved through the provision of skill development training and implementation of community development projects.
Nishi Trading began as a commercial farm for exports, expanding and diversifying its operations to include imports, an agristore, a quarry, pest management and control and a foundation for community support and training for farmers. Nishi Trading has the Kingdom of Tonga’s very first HACCP certified food processing facility and packhouse, which has become the Pacific’s first Sea Container Hygiene System (SCHS) approved warehouse by New Zealand’s Ministry of Prime Industries (MPI).
Project objectives
In Tonga, the following project activities work towards increasing domestic citrus production in support of pro-health outcomes and wider community development impacts:
Objective 1. To create viable citrus value chains in Tonga and Samoa
Support established citrus orchards in Tonga to provide commercial quantities of fruit for the domestic market.
Undertake on-farm and laboratory trials to assess the suitability of commercially and locally sourced citrus rootstocks, to local production conditions.
Undertake participatory postharvest handling trials in Samoa and Tonga.
Enhance local knowledge and capacity in tree fruit production and postharvest handling.
Objective 2: Enhancing the resilience of fruit production systems
Establish on-farm trials to evaluate options to enhance orchard resilience to potential future cyclone damage.
Pest and disease remediation awareness.
Objective 3: New household enterprises to enhance industry sustainability
Improved farmer access to locally sourced grafted citrus planting material in Tonga, by creating a network of small-scale plant nurseries.
New income-generating opportunities aligned with existing citrus value chains.
Objective 4: Translating citrus value chains into human nutrition impacts
Food choice, dietary intake and consumer purchasing behaviour with the capacity to support or hinder increased fruit consumption.
Design and establish a network of demonstration healthy eating gardens that support wider diet-based NCDs-aligned healthy eating in Tonga.
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