Vavine is a farmer from Kore – a small, rural community in Papua New Guinea sometimes referred to as the Valley of Watermelons. When the trucks from Kore arrive in rural marketplaces loaded with fresh fruit, market sellers who make a living transporting fruit and vegetables to the capital of Port Moresby are quick to negotiate a sale.

“I always look forward to selling my watermelons,” says Vavine. “It is the fastest selling produce I have ever sold compared to other vegetables. Every time we go to the markets they are sold out within an hour or two. And we earn a good income from our sales.”

Vavine started planting watermelons on a small scale a few years ago. He was surprised to see how much income they yielded in such a short period of time – especially when compared to crops such as yam, cassava or bananas which can take years to grow. His first watermelons were ready after just three months.

The land around Kore is also very fertile, and is largely uncultivated. Vavine says: “We depend on the weather to cultivate land. Using our traditional knowledge, we plant different crops according to the wet and dry seasons. We planted watermelons just like any other food crop –often integrating them with other crops.

“We never really thought beyond our traditional methods until ChildFund Papua New Guinea and the Nationals Agricultural Research Institute (NARI) started a new project in our community: working with our Community in 2015 through the project.