Kadavu mother, 64, thrives on work as sugarcane farmer in Lautoka
Salaseini Koroi said growing up on her family’s sugarcane farm in Sorokoba inspired her to get a piece of land to start her farm one day.
“My father came from Kadavu and managed to get a farm in Ba with my mother’s share of land and from there I was taught how to work on a sugarcane farm from a young age,” she said.
Upon completing her education Ms Koroi entered the teaching profession, however she still felt like going back to the sugarcane farm.
The 64-year-old mother of three and grandmother of seven children secured 10 acres of land in Buabua, Vitogo, Lautoka after retiring from teaching in 2013.
She taught at Vitogo District School.
During this time a community member’s husband died and this was her land, so she couldn’t do much when the cooperative came in to take it back.
“So she called me if I could come and take it,” Ms Koroi said.
“From there I paid the land rent arrears and all debts she incurred from her husband and she transferred the lease to me, it was about $10,000 in debt that I paid off, so we had an arrangement.”
Mr Koroi divided the 10 acres of land to plant ginger, cassava and fruit trees as well as farming livestock, poultry and beekeeping.
“I started diversifying like cash crops such as ginger, we feel it’s very useful for us farmers rather than relying on the cane payment,” she said.
“For us when the cassava is matured, the vendors call and we sell a $50 sack or two, we were able to get about $300 to $400, which helps during the gap.”
She said she received her fourth cane payment of $1400 on June 1 from the Fiji Sugar Corporation.
“It went to the Sugarcane Growers Fund and they deducted 60 per cent and I got 40 per cent which was about $573 in the bank and that’s hard on us because the price of living has gone up,” she said.
“From when we began in 2013 we struggled for three years and managed to get 30 tonnes harvested, 2018 we went from 30 tonnes to 211 tonnes and then we went up to 232 tonnes but last year there was a fall in the tonnage, we had 139 tonnes.”
She said she would be opting for manual harvesting as the sugarcane harvesting machines damage the sugarcane.
“I just spent $200 from that $500 to pay the labourers, they have to spray and clean the sugarcane farm and we also have to look after them and feed them and we have our bills to pay, so this cane payment almost make ends meet,” she said.