A growing number of farmers in Alotau, Milne Bay Province, continue to learn about and grow their own rice, as part of the Food Security Rice Project. The caretaker of Food Security & Nutrition Advisor with the Milne Bay Provincial Government, Division of Agriculture & Livestock (DAL), Mr. Skipa Christopher, who is running the Food Security Rice Project, said right now, there are about 100 individual farmers that are part of this project. “Motuyuwa Village has just come onboard with this project, and they have committed almost 900 hectares of their traditional land, to grow rice.” He said people have expressed that they find it hard to afford the imported rice that is sold in the shops and the Provincial DAL is continuing to address this concern, by encouraging the locals to grow their own rice. “There are currently 100 farmers that are part of this project, and we continue to encourage more individual farmers to get involved, by providing incentives.” The Didiman explained that once the individuals commit their land to the project, the Provincial then comes onboard and provides the technical know-how, as well as the rice seeds. “And we tell the farmers, grow enough rice for you and your family and if there is any surplus, then we will buy it from you and sell it.” Mr. Skipa explained that they already have their own rice on the shop shelves; rice that is supplied by the local farmers. “We are just waiting for our packaging to arrive, before we can send out new stock of our Milne Bay Rice.” The DAL continues to visit their project sites and from their assessments, they have reported that logistics remains a challenge, especially for the rural rice farmers, who need to transport their rice produce to the Bubuleta Resource Center, for processing. “We are working through this challenge as well as providing micro mills for the farmers to process their own rice. The DAL has already provided around 30 micro mills to local rice farmers, who have improved and increased their rice production