School receives assistance

STUDENTS and teachers at St John’s College in Ovalau, were overjoyed after receiving 20 coils of barbed wire for fencing to start their dairy production program from the Ministry of Agriculture recently.

The school is one of the ministry’s recipients of the Commodity Agriculture Development Programme (CADP).

The assistance to the school falls under two program which is aimed at helping the school to become selfsufficient and enable boarding students to eat healthy and nutritious meals.

School principal, Alosio Saukuru said the collaboration with the ministry would surely enhance some of the skills that these students had and of course, impart lifelong skills to students.

“We would like to bring back the farming activities that the school was well-known for, back then, the school had so much farm produce that they were supplying cassava to boarding schools in the mainland,” Mr Saukuru said.

“With our dairy program, I am sure that we will develop further and become self-sufficient because that is our primary goal.”

While handing over the assistance, principal agriculture officer (Eastern) Nimilote Waqa said the ministry was committed to assisting the school produce its own food.

“The 20 coils of barbed wire are just part of the 50 per cent of the materials which has been handed over,” Mr Waqa said.

“Our Animal Health and Production officers from Suva also scoped the project site and due to the natural wet conditions of the project site, digger works will soon commence before proper fencing will be carried out.

“We hope to bring back that kind of production and first supply milk to our students before selling milk to the other schools on the island.”

The package for the school also included pine posts for fencing, a chaff cutter, milking cans and 10 heifers for milk production.

The same assistance will be replicated at Ratu Kadavulevu School, Queen Victoria School in Tailevu, St Vincent College in Natovi, Bucalevu Secondary School in Taveuni, Adi Maopa Secondary School on Vanua Balavu and Richmond Methodist High School in Kadavu.