Family Puts Money on Pearl Guava
Brother toils land to sustain family income
If you have land, you can easily earn money to survive, says Marika Davetawalu. Originally from Sigatoka, the 27-year-old father believes he is one of the few farmers in Vanua Levu investing in green pearl guavas.
The name of their business is Guava Fiji.
“With the money earned, we invested it on our yaqona farm such as the clearing of weeds and making drain,” he said.
“I always love farming and I find farming as the most satisfying business, and I urge our young people who are unemployed to choose farming.
“If a person has land of their own, they can build a house and do different types of farming to survive.”
But getting to where they are today was no easy ride. Mr Davetawalu said when his father died, a businessman bought the land that his late father used to farm on.
“My mother struggled to look after six children and our dream to continue my father’s farming business was crushed,” he said. “Although I completed my Certificate Four course in mechanical engineering from the Fiji National University in 2018, I always wanted to become a farmer but had no land.”
The father of one had to work at several places to survive. But in 2020, his brother, Isikeli Davetawalu, who plays rugby for a club in France, provide them a breakthrough.
“He called and told me to go and check on a piece of land at Ketei in Savusavu and find out if it was suitable for yaqona farming, and it was,” he said.
“With the financial support of my brother Isikeli Davetawalu and his wife Coline Davetawalu, who are the owners of the lease and business, we started our yaqona farming. But then we realised that we needed to do another farming business that could provide us quick income.”
This is how the green pearl guava business surfaced.
Last March, he said they planted 100 green pearl guava plants and 150 more in June.
On the last week of October, they harvested seven guavas, 15 in December and then 30 this month. The guavas are sold by walking along the streets of Savusavu Town, and they can also deliver house-to-house in their farm truck.
They sell one kilogram of green pearl guavas for $8.