COVID-19 DOES LITTLE TO DETER AGRICULTURE ACHIEVEMENTS ON LAKEBA
Recognizing the agriculture endeavours of your very own goes a long way in motivating one's own community.
This was the case for a Mataqali (land-owning unit) on Lakeba Island, in Lau who held an awards ceremony to recognize the agricultural prowess and achievements of outstanding members of their mataqali, all this despite and amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, which is yet another successful agriculturepromotion story in itself.
At Yadrana Village, villagers recently held the ‘Babunia Mini-Agriculture Show’ on August 22. Babunia is the name of the Mataqali whose members make up the majority of Yadrana Village. The Mini AgShow was the first of its kind to be held there.
Event Committee Chairman and
Lakeba District Rep to the Lau Provincial Council, Mr Uate Soko explained in i-Taukei that the reason they decided to hold the event was to show what they could still achieve despite these challenging times.
He said the women from the Mataqali, as well as the women generally from Lakeba, were the major suppliers of mats and tapa that were ordered on the Facebook platform called ‘Veivoli Va Kawa I-Taukei’, a social media platform established to conduct trade on valuable i-Taukei artifacts and items.
Therefore, on ‘Babunia Day’ the women showed off their skills of beautifully hand-woven mats and were deservedly recognized for their efforts including the men for their crop planting.
The awards that were up for grabs included ‘Yaqona Farmer of the Year’ won by Jone Salabogi, 50, who has a total of 4,500 plants in various stages of growth up to three years. ‘Yaqona Progressive Farmer of the Year’ went to Jone Maukakala, 59, who has 4,000 plants with the same growth rate. ‘Second Runner Up’ in the ‘Yaqona Progressive Farmer of the Year’ category, went to Kelera Ledua, 40, with 3,400 plants.
The ‘Young Farmer of the Year’ was awarded to 15-year-old Uate Soko Jnr, who has a total of 1,300 yaqona plants. Meanwhile ‘Voivoi Producer of the Year’ went to Ana Fane, 67, who has 8,000 plants.
The Ministry of Agriculture provided the trophies and certificates for the Awards ceremony. Earlier in 2017, under the Rural and Outer Island program, the Ministry built a processing shed that cost $18,000 for mat-weaving and tapamaking for the women.
The men, on the other hand, after the devastation caused by TC Winston re-started Yaqona planting in 2017 after three decades of not planting Yaqona at all. The Ministry provided advice and encouraged the men to re-start planting, and from that time till today, yaqona farms are a normal sight all over the island.
Today, Lakeba boasts four yaqona clusters including youths. The island has eight villages with a population of 1,499; 386 households; and 425 farmers.