HM Queen Nanasipau’u today, May 19 toured MORDI Tonga headquarters and plantation at Havelu today in support of local food farming.

The tour led by Tevita Tukia covered over 20 sites from a nursery, home garden, a plantation of various crops, to carvings and tapa making areas and a factory food production space.

MORDI Tonga’s work aims to improve livelihoods in communities, particularly in rural areas and the outer islands through a variety of projects, including planting local food to increase food security.

Dr Seu’ula Johansson Fua, MORDI Tonga Trust Chairperson, said some of their projects include building cyclone proof homes for those affected by cyclones, and distributing seedlings to families to improve their livelihoods.

They also contribute to communities, installing water tanks, and empowering women to grow vegetables and plants. “We also turn breadfruit, taro and kumara into flour to sell overseas,” she said.

MORDI processes flour in partnership with Nishi Trading with the aim of selling the products in New Zealand and Australia. They also make Moringa Powder for consumption, derived from the Moringa tree which contains various antioxidants.

Lady Fielakepa, on behalf of the royal entourage, said they thought they would only see food crops and vegetable plants, but instead learned MORDI also preserves food.

“We should plant food to sustain us and not rely on imported food,” she said.

The Queen’s visit supported a sufficiency economy, which connects with the work MORDI Tonga carries out to rural communities.

MORDI Tonga's other initiatives includes training on how to develop backyard plots, healthy eating tips, new plant varieties and improved cultivation practices.

Sufficiency economy

The idea of a sufficiency economy stems from Thailand, which highlights a balanced way of living based on three principles - moderation, reasonableness, and self-immunity.

It emphasizes that people produce and consume within their limits of existing income, which lessens dependence and increases ability to control production by the people, in turn creating resiliency to shocks from a volatile market system. Food and nutrition security is vital to developing a stable economy.