In a bid to promote agricultural productivity in the Northern Division, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) provided vendors and farmers with assistance worth $4869.

Twenty-three Labasa market vendors and farmers benefitted from this project, each receiving $220 worth of materials.

This is under the UNDP’s Market for Change Increasing Agricultural Productivity and Income of Market Vendor-Farmers project.

Project co-ordinator Vikash Kumar said UNDP, through the UN Women’s Market for Change Project, had been working with market vendors, some who are farmers, to assist them in improving their agricultural productivity and income.

“The invention carried out is aimed at enabling the vendors and farmers to produce better quality and quantity of crops for the markets, while paying attention to environmental and economic sustainability,” Mr Kumar said.

The distribution of agro-input materials is part of the effort to reward those vendors and farmers who have been attending the project’s activities, and have demonstrated improvement in their farms.

Mr Kumar said the agro-inputs would further assist these farmers and vendors to continue to achieve their farming goals.

Lavenia Saravaki, 43, of Siberia, Labasa, received a digging fork, caneknife and some seedlings.

Edited by Caroline Ratucadra