Nataleira Villagers start farming for export market
More than 100 acres of land will be utilized by farmers of Nataleira Village in Tailevu to farm produce for export purposes.
The initiative was launched on Monday by the Minister for Agriculture Mahendra Reddy.
According to Fiji’s Agricultural Marketing Authority (AMA), the villagers have started preparing the land and allocated 40 acres to farm Tausala dalo, 43 acres for Yellow Cassava and 20 acres for Uro ni Vonu dalo.
The project is mataqali owned and operated and all labourers working in the farms will be from the surrounding villages.
“There is a huge market demand for yellow cassava in Australia and there is interest from an Australian importer to buy 15tonnes of yellow cassava per week,” he said.
The opportunity is significant for Fiji because if supply is consistent then it would increase exports.
Turaga-ni-koro of Nataleira Village Asaeli Donu said villagers would benefit greatly from the initiative.
“Our farmers will now grow the two crops (cassava and dalo) according to the agreement, and plus, we no longer have to worry about the market, which is something we usually had to arrange after all the hard work we have put in to grow our crops,” Mr Donu said.
Mr Reddy said developing commercial agriculture would enable Fiji to overcome the challenges it faces today by putting agriculture and the farmers as the drivers of the Fijian economy.