Friday’s event served as a follow-up to a Sept. 8 visit, when the sixth-graders participated in the second planting of the embassy garden.
During the workshop, students identified harmful bugs, what vegetable varieties they consume, and organic techniques to diminish their impact.
Students were reminded of low-cost, high yield gardening techniques, as well as the invaluable health and food security benefits provided by a family garden.
In his welcoming remarks, U.S. Ambassador Peter Prahar encouraged students to appreciate the value of agriculture, highlighting to the students that they “are learning the value of healthy, locally grown foods…. And I hope all of you will continue to be interested all your lives in growing and harvesting some of the food you eat.”
Students then rotated through stations at which they identified four common bugs and the vegetables varieties they affect: tortoise shell beetles on kan kang, white flies on tomatoes, aphids on beans, and slugs on cabbage.
USDA-NRCS conservation specialist Paul Lake, soil conservation technician Gibson Santos, agriculture conservation aide Rodasio Samuel, and U.S. Embassy management officer JoEllen Gorg presented organic pest control methods that could be employed at little or no cost.
Students were then shown how to make tea with locally-grown lemon grass.
To employ their newfound gardening skills, the sixth-grade students will create their own garden at Nett Elementary School through the Conservation Society of Pohnpei Youth-to-Youth Program.
With technical assistance from USDA-NRCS, the students will construct and manage the garden, and, at the conclusion of the program, teach other youth the gardening techniques learned.
