TWO cocoa farmers in North Guadalcanal and Northeast Guadalcanal received support from the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) through its Soul Cocoa Plus Livelihood Project (SCPLP) on Thursday, July 11, 2024.
Project Officer for SCPLP, Reidly Harold, along with ADRA Logistic Officer Jack Fakaia and Communication, Monitoring, and Evaluation Officer Denver Newter, delivered cocoa materials to the farmers home village.
Banabas Manetavua from Vatilau in Northeast Guadalcanal, Paripao Ward, and Julian Kuri from North Guadalcanal, Gaobata Ward, received materials to improve their cocoa sun dryers. Ms. Kuri received 12 pieces of clear polycarbonate roofing materials for her cocoa sun dryer, while Mr. Manetavua received two bags of cement, one roll of green shed net, two sato pan toilets, and previously, clear plastic for his cocoa solar dryer.
Mr. Manetavua has already built his cocoa solar dryer shed, which will be completed next week, while Ms. Kuri will build her solar cocoa dryer soon but received support because she was the first farmer to work on the project since it started in 2017.
Reidly Harold, Project Officer for the Soul Cocoa Plus Livelihood Project (SCPLP), said that the support aims to help farmers improve their cocoa livelihoods.
“We provided small assistance to these farmers since they owned cocoa farms but lacked solar dryers’’
“This assistance has essentially helped them improve their infrastructure, especially the solar cocoa dryers, Mr. Harold said.
Mr. Harold encouraged both farmers to use the materials wisely to produce better-quality cocoa.
“I encourage both farmers to make good use of this small material assistance. Although it is small, it comes from our hearts’’
“ADRA SCPLP is pleased to provide support and will continue to do so in the future, Mr. Harold said.
Meanwhile, Banabas Manetavua, speaking on behalf of the farmers, expressed gratitude to ADRA for the support.
“I would like to thank ADRA SCPLP for supporting us with these materials that will help improve our production. “One of the areas we were lacking was a proper cocoa sun dryer, but thanks to ADRA, I will complete my new cocoa sun dryer next week and start drying cocoa,” Mr. Manetavua said.
Source: ADRA Solomon Islands
