Youths show promise for a bright Gau future

The opening of a new community hall in Sawaieke Village, Gau, by the Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama, represents several positive highlights.

They include the youth involvement and the productive use of the land.

The youths raised $120,000 through the sale of their yaqona harvested from 1000 plants. Government gave $50,000.

Mr Bainimarama praised the youths and they deserved the accolade.

The youths have demonstrated that there is a lot of economic potential in the land.

When it is cultivated and planted with different kinds of crops, it can yield an attractive financial return.

In this case it is yaqona or kava, whose roots are in high public demand as a ceremonial and social drink among Fijians here and abroad.

Land, and there is only 136.1 square kilometers of it, is one of the biggest assets of the Gau Islanders. The other important natural resource is of course the sea. Fishing can be a lucrative business as well but it is dependent on the weather and the conditions of the sea.

But land appears to be the top income earner for the Gau islanders.

Another interesting feature for the island is that more than 50 per cent of the forested interior of the island is home to the critically endangered Fijian bird species, the petrel.

So the islanders, while fulfilling their conservation obligations, farm other areas that are lying idle. The yaqona farm project and other agricultural schemes that they are working on, keep the youths busy and gainfully employed.

If 1000 plants earn them $120,000, 10,000 plants can fetch them more than $1 million. The youths have the potential and the capability to reach the target.

It is that kind of project that will keep youths in the maritime and rural areas and arrest the urban drift.

Youths drift to urban centres looking for tertiary education, qualifications and then jobs. Some of those who never make it and fail to achieve their dreams return to where they come from in rural and maritime areas.

Others usually turn to illicit drugs and crime. The Sawaieke youths have shown other youths with similar resources that they can be productive and enjoy life in the maritime areas.

Youths do not have to move to urban areas to look for work. It’s available right there in the form of agriculture and other business ventures.

The Government is encouraging young people to study agriculture and return home to use their newfound knowledge to develop their land commercially. The Sawaieke youths have been able to do it with the support of their parents and village elders.

If the partnership is sustainable long term, and there is no reason to think it won’t, it would bring multiple benefits to Sawaieke.

They can use the money they earn from yaqona to invest in new businesses and strengthen economic growth on the island.

They can build Sawaieke to become not only the seat of power on the island but also the economic hub that makes Gau self-sufficient in a lot of things.