Lotofaga Primary School is the first school to receive a kit set nursery for their school kitchen garden with the nursery coming courtesy of the Canada Fund for Local Initiatives at a cost of SAT$700 each. 

The small garden nursery is designed to be assembled by the students and comprises precut lengths of 40mm PVC pipe, 42 junctions and 4 elbows. 

The project, which aims to improve health literacy and increase the consumption of locally grown fruits and vegetables, is assisting selected rural and urban schools to establish kitchen gardens.

The nursery, designed by Galumalemana Steve Percival of the Tiapapata Art Centre, will provide students with knowledge and practical skills to grow vegetables. Promoting green thumbs among children is a long-term effort to change eating habits in a population that prematurely loses over 80 per cent of its people to non-communicable diseases and related health complications. 

The economic cost of the health crisis amounts to tens of millions of Tālā and this is before calculating lost productivity.

School Principal Isitolo Aiomanu assisted the students in what was a very engaging and fun activity for the students. Each kit set nursery has six slatted wooden shelves and is supplied with both clear plastic and shade cloth coverings. 

Some vegetable seedlings are also provided to the schools so they can get a head start on the growing cycle. The aim is for each school that is given a nursery to buy vegetable seeds that the children will plant and later transplant to their garden beds and in this way be able to monitor and tend the garden. Five schools have been selected to trial the nurseries.