TASMANIA’S LEARN ♦ GROW PROJECT RECEIVES MAJOR GRANT FROM ROTARY.
Media Release 6 May 2010
Learn Grow, a Tasmanian Rotary Project, which delivers an alternative approach to preventing malnutrition in developing countries, has been awarded a major Matching Grant by the Rotary Foundation.
The Learn Grow Project has been fostered by Rotary in Tasmania, and is based on the work of Tasmanian Agricultural Scientist, Bruce French, who has developed the most comprehensive database of the world’s edible plants.
Learn Grow Project Chairman, Buz Green said the funding will unde
rwrite a program to help people in Solomon Islands learn about and grow local food plants and reduce their increasing dependence on imported foodstuffs or western food plants. The “Learn Grow” project offers a tangible and sustainable solution to global malnutrition because it is truly about “helping the hungry to help themselves”.
Solomon Islands is an excellent location for this project because it has a rapidly growing population and the traditional knowledge about the cultivation and processing of native food plants is being eroded. There is an increasing reliance on imported wheat flour and rice, a real drain on the national economy. The situation is compounded by a severe lack of reliable printed information about local food plants and more importantly which ones have the highest levels of key nutrients missing from the diet.
The “Learn Grow” project, now funded by the Matching Grant from the Rotary Foundation, aims to provide information about local edible plants in a simple, easy to read format with many pictures which help to overcome the challenges of language. This has been made possible by the career-long work of Burnie-based agricultural scientist, Bruce French and his not-for-profit company, Food Plants International. Bruce has compiled the most comprehensive database of the world’s edible plants in the world.
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Market scene in Honiara, showing the diversity of local plant foods available in the Solomon Islands |
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The Tasmanian “Learn Grow” team will link up with the Rotary Club of Honiara in Solomon Islands to implement the program. Printed information at three different levels of complexity will be distributed to groups and individuals. Teams from Australia will work with local providers and assist with setting up and implementing the program. Costs for printing the educational material and transporting it to the Solomon Islands will absorb a significant portion of the project funding.
A successfully implemented “Learn Grow” project in Solomon Islands will be the catalyst for similar projects in developing countries around the globe, such is it’s potential for preventing malnutrition.
Contacts:
Buz Green
Tel: 6498 6800BH
Mob: 0419 306 900
Email: buzgreen@bigpond.net.au
Bruce French
Tel: 6432 1080
Mob: 0419 131 799
Email: bfrench@vision.net.au