The hardships and challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, particularly with the importation of food, underscored the importance of local food production, especially for a Rarotonga couple who are now thriving with their home organic garden.

Mirella and Katoa Mairi, parents to three daughters with grandchildren, feared nationwide food shortages during the pandemic. They feared they would not be able to feed their children and this concern drove them to invest their time in home-gardening.

Four years on, they are now thriving in their home-garden, feeding their children, neighbours and even sharing the produce with schools. They are about to launch home-garden tours to tourists in collaboration with the Cook Islands Tourism Corporation.

“Covid was bad for us and for the country but it opened our eyes that we have everything we need on the island, we have all our fertilisers that you can make as well,” Mirella said.

“We thought that during Covid we wouldn’t have any shipping coming and bringing us food so how were we going to feed ourselves.

Secretary of Agriculture Temarama Anguna-Kamana with SPC staff, Dr Rohit Lal, soil scientist, and Nitesh Nand, plant health laboratory technician (entomology). TALAIA MIKA/24071511

“So we thought we would plant enough to feed ourselves and our children and that’s when we started planting and so far we’re doing good.

“We managed to feed ourselves, our girls, when they come home, they do their cooking, and for our grandchildren as well.

“When we have too much, we share it with our neighbours and we also take them to the schools because we can’t eat them all … it’s been a very good journey and we learn every day.”

Their pre-launch organic home garden tour was a success and is expected to be up and running within the next two weeks. They are eager to share their passion for home-growing, not only with their community but also with tourists.

The Mairis started their garden four years ago during Covid when the Agricultural Ministry started giving out free seedlings.

Back then, they were using fertilisers until they met some friends who encouraged them to transition to organic farming.

It’s been three years now that they’ve been doing organic garden, planting a variety of trees, vegetables and more.

“We were very fortunate because we met some friends, the two people who encouraged us and supported us into organic, giving us advice on how to do our gardens,” Mirella said.

Asked whether they sell their harvests to earn, they said they do sell when they have too much and when they need to buy something for the garden like fences and nets.

The Mairis were amongst farmers who attended the Ministry of Agriculture’s clinic workshop on Friday last week. They learned more about farming and planting and how to care for their soil.

Facilitated by the European-Union funded SAFE Pacific Project implemented by Pacific Community (SPC), the training which started on Monday last week targeted pests and diseases as well as the soil.

The training was delivered by SPC staff, Dr Rohit Lal, soil scientist, and Nitesh Nand, plant health laboratory technician (entomology), at the Ministry of Agriculture Office in Arorangi.

As a practical exercise, the trainees, Ministry of Agriculture’s extension officers, conducted a clinic on Friday with farmers in a farming locality to expose their learning during the week.

“For me, I’ve learned quite a lot. They see the things that we don’t see in our gardens like insects and other things, we learned how to look for them and how to treat them,” Mirella added.

“We also learned about good and bad insects. Beneficial insects that will help our gardens and the bad ones that become nuisances for your gardens.”

Mirella reminded local farmers that there will be some challenges along the way but she urged them to make use of the Ministry of Agriculture who are there to support them in their journey as farmers.

“We would like to encourage the people to have their home gardens just enough to feed themselves and if they can do organic gardens that would be even better because we need to look after our soil because our soil is feeding us, so if you look after our soil, you will have nice vegetables,” she said.