Tonga is looking to produce a seed collection and storage system to strengthen food security. Seeds may include local fruits and traditional medicinal plants as well as indigenous plants.

A research project on developing a sustainable open pollinated seeds production and processing system will begin under a joint partnership between the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the Mainstreaming of Rural Development Innovation Tonga Trust (MORDI TT).

A contract service for the project was signed recently by Hiroaki Takashima, JICA Resident Representative, and MORDI CEO, Soane Patolo Jr.

The research will be carried out over nine months and is part of the Japanese Government’s assistance to Tonga in preparedness activities to combat COVID-19. 

The project will also include an expansion of MORDI TT’s nursery, a processing and cooling facility for processing and storage of open pollinated seeds. 

Soane said the seed collection will be made through an open pollinated seed supplier and sourced from MORDI Tonga’s 122 target rural communities in Tonga.

"These can include local fruits and traditional medicinal plants as well as indigenous plants that are hard to come by nowadays in Tonga.”

Once the seeds are sourced and multiplied, they will be made available to the communities at a more affordable rate, he said.

The initiative of open seed multiplication is to bring about ways where the increase of food and nutrition security is in place especially for the most vulnerable of the communities.

“It will increase efforts to become self-sufficient, promote circular economies and bolster resilience of the communities.”

A research project on developing a sustainable open pollinated seeds production and processing system to increase food security in Tonga will begin under a joint partnership between JICA and MORDI.