Sowing the seeds for farm’s future

The Napranum Farm has been given a new lease on life thanks to a flourishing partnership between Napranum Aboriginal Shire Council, The Department of Employment, Small Business and Training (DESBT) and Community Owned Enterprises (COE).

 

A new Skilling Queenslanders for Work (SQW*) initiative has secured ten Napranum locals paid traineeships to re-establish a community garden on the 22-acre farm over the next six months. They will also undertake Conservation and Land Management training to supplement the skills learnt preparing and running the farm.

 

Led by farm supervisor, Frank Sigai and mentored by the Napranum based Na’Muk’A’Run Mob, the program has been co-designed with local stakeholders and Traditional Owners to best support the Napranum community. Trainees have already been busy preparing the shed and greenhouse areas, which had fallen into disrepair, as well as clearing the property of weeds, overgrown vegetation and refuse.

 

Initial plans are to grow staple crops such as taro, papaya, watermelon and bananas for the Napranum community. The farm will also trial growing native plants to explore both local and national opportunities successful plantings may afford.

 

Through an invitation from the Napranum Aboriginal Shire Council, Community Owned Enterprises recently coordinated a farm summit in Weipa. Stakeholders representing both Federal and State Governments, the Local Council, the agribusiness and agricultural academia sector, and the Western Cape community met to discuss options for the continuation of the farm beyond the SQW project completion.

 

Farm tours alongside this forum allowed visiting stakeholders, including DESBT’s Regional Director for Far North Queensland, Grant Stidiford a fantastic opportunity to see this project in this early stage and we are excited to show off its impact as work progresses.

 

The forum opened discussions between many potential funding bodies and enterprise supports. We look forward to these talks continuing towards the creation of a standalone enterprise to allow for the farm to continue to grow into a very valuable community asset.

 

This story first appeared in the Cape York Weekly on 19th April. It also appeared in the Cairns Post on 27th April and The National Indigenous Times on 28th April.

 

*This Skilling Queenslanders for Work project is proudly funded by the Queensland Government.