Virgin Oil Business Receives Timely Boost
Virgin Coconut Oil business for members of Cikobia Women’s Group from Cikobia Island, Macuata took a positive step recently.
Gone are the days when members of the group laboured daily to scrape coconut with their hands.
With two generators, an electric coconut scraper, bottles, empty drums, buckets and fuel donated by the Minister of Rural and Maritime Development, Inia Seruiratu, their business will flourish and production will be boosted.
Speaking on behalf of the women’s group Melaia Cagituivei said they used to distribute 10 coconuts per member to scrape in one day.
“This consumed a lot of time as we had to scrape about 50-60 each per week,” Ms Cagituevi said.
“With the new electric coconut scraper we can scrape more coconuts in such a short time frame.”
She said this would also help boost their business and production.
Their business started in 2019 with around 30 women from the villages of Vatulele, Nautovatu, Nalele and Vuninuku on Cikobia.
They intend to expand their business with the provision of equipment given to them by the ministry.
Minister Seruiratu said the focus of the project was to equip women
with the resources to enable them to prosper economically through the growth of their business.
“The assistance was made possible
through funding under the ministry’s self-help programme,” Mr Seruiratu said.
“Cikobia has a lot of coconuts
on the island thus the processing plant will greatly enhance and improve their livelihood.”
He said Cikobia was an isolated
island community in Macuata.