A project creating vegetable patches is not only providing fresh produce for the communities of the Big Rivers Region, it's also helping to bring them together.
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Katherine Research Station is collaborating once more with Nyirrunggulung-Rise on the 'Healthy Life Food Production' project.
Following on from previous successful projects, Nyirrunggulung-Rise, a joint venture of Jawoyn Association and RISE Ventures, is delivering a community development initiative with the support of the Plant Industries team of the Department of Industry, Tourism and Trade.
Nyirrunggulung-Rise received a grant through the Northern Territory Government for the project, that supports the creation of two community vegetable patches to harvest fresh fruit and vegetables.
Getting the project up and running was made possible with the support of the Plant Industries staff, who provided the technical support needed to get these fruits and vegetables growing out of the ground.
Work commenced in late 2022 and a year on from the project, groups from Barunga, Beswick, Eva Valley, Binjari, Kalano and Katherine have all worked together planting and picking snake beans, corn, sweet potato, cassava, pak choy, rosella, bush plums, chilli, tomatoes and beetroot. Each time a fruit or vegetable is ready to harvest; the group share the produce and takes it back to communities.
Senior Technical Officer, Teagan Haby says, "This is a great project to work on. Community-led projects are vital and the support of the team at Nyirrunggulung-Rise has been incredibly helpful."
Nyirrunggulung-Rise and the Plant Industries team hope to expand on this project, with more collaborative opportunities to arise from the establishment of the community gardens. The participants have gained skills, confidence and knowledge through the program, with many of the team supporting work on other projects that have concurrently been happening at Katherine Research Station.
"It is hoped that we can work on expanding this program with the support of KRS. We would like to turn the produce into saleable products such as chilli mango jam and tomato chutney. This will also increase the shelf life of our fresh produce," Community Project Coordinator, Peter Beesley said.
