COOK ISLANDS: Eat your greens – the Good Way to feed the community
Tepare and Marianne Solomona have always had green fingers, enjoying growing food for their extended family and occasionally supplying local stores with fresh produce. During Covid, with the borders closed, freight increasingly expensive and shipments less frequent, the Cook Islands Government saw the need to make this island nation less reliant on produce imported from Australia and New Zealand. The right thing to do was to offer initiatives to growers to increase the country’s self-sufficiency and reduce import reliance. 
Seeing this as the perfect opportunity to push their veggie patch into a commercial space, Tepare and Marianne applied for Government support, and have since worked to not only expand their range of green leafy vegetables but to supply all year round. This is naturally problematic given the climate in Aitutaki. The heat prohibits growth of greens and leafy vegetables from November to March, and water supply is a significant issue.
Three years into their business, the Good Way Farm received a call from the local representative of the Business Trade and Investment Board and an email from the Chamber of Commerce, both letting Tepare and Marianne know about Business Link Pacific and the Business Support Grant. Turning their mind to ways in which the business could flourish, they decided to apply for a grant to purchase a large chiller to improve efficiency.
Without a chiller, they were harvesting and sorting produce every day. The chiller meant they could reduce harvesting days and focus on much-needed maintenance and garden management. They could also store produce for local stores, supplying demand as and when needed.
The chiller has only been in place for a month, having taken two months to arrive in the Cook Islands from New Zealand. Already the Solomonas can see what a difference this will make to the Good Way Farm. They are supplying commercial customers such as resorts and cafes weekly instead of daily, and their days are spent more time efficiently. They aspire to produce enough green vegetables to feed the community, impacting overall health.
The application process went well for Marianne and Tepare, and they received support a BLP approved accountant, who assisted with finalising their business plan – it can be hard to put your dreams on paper in a clear a logical way! Marianne says that additional advice was very helpful.
Marianne concludes, ” COVID-19 pushed us to focus on growing our small business, and this has catapulted us into a much larger operation, able to supply commercial and private customers from our market garden.”
BLP facilitates access to business advisory services and financial support through a variety of subsidies, grants and loans. To start your journey with BLP, you can self-assess your needs by using the free online tools available to help small- and medium-sized businesses diagnose areas in their businesses that an advisor could improve.
The first step can be the online Business Health Check. You can also check your business’s resilience to respond to crises or climate change challenges on the Business Continuity Planner and the Climate Action Sensor. If you prefer to meet a local BLP representative in person to discuss your business, get in touch with our local partners to arrange a face-to-face Diagnostic.