Dalo issue

IN writing this letter, I would like to state up front that I mean no disrespect to the Assistant Minister for Agriculture, Tomasi Tunabuna. However, I am concerned when you have people who should know better, making broad statements about the reason that dalo cultivation has dropped (FT21/3).

Mr Tunabuna claims that, “the reason for the drop in dalo cultivation is primarily due to the encroachment of saltwater as sea level rises”. Blame climate change for everything that goes wrong, it’s an easy, but lazy excuse.

Mr Tunabuna should know very well that the largest dalo farming areas in Fiji are Taveuni, Bua and parts of Naitasiri. Except for Naitasiri, most of the dalo grown in Bua and Taveuni is planted in hilly areas, not affected by rising seawater.

Mr Tunabuna needs to explain the real reasons for the fall in dalo cultivation, such as over planting, over use of NPK, depletion of nutrients in the soil and the low price paid to the farmers, and thus income from planting dalo.

Next, as the Assistant Minister for Agriculture, Mr Tunabuna has to explain how the Agriculture Department plans to overcome this problem.

In Taveuni, over the past 10 - 15 years we have noticed this huge drop in dalo cultivation.

Many farmers have reverted to yaqona farming as a more lucrative alternative.

So what can Agriculture do or advise dalo farmers?

And please don’t say that farmers need to use more NPK. One Agricultural Officer advised that solution a few years ago and that only made the situation worse.

DONALD THOMAS PICKERING Matei, Taveuni

Picture: NACANIELI TUILEVUKA Assistant Minister for Agriculture Tomasi Tunabuna during an interview in one of his recent visit to the North.