Five winners for backyard competition
SAMISONI Enterprises Pte Ltd yesterday recognised the efforts of people living in the urban areas partaking in backyard farming.
The students and staff of Marist College, St Joan of Arc and the Ditoka family were announced as winners for the Central Eastern, Western divisions and national champion respectively.
Payal Chand and Roderick MeurigEvans on the other hand received special mention.
According Samisoni Enterprise Pte Ltd CEO John Samisoni, they wanted to create a project to encourage those people who had lost their jobs because of the COVID-19 pandemic to take up farming.
“I really appreciate all the effort that you put before you even knew about the competition and it was just real encouragement to us to see how much effort and creativity people around Fiji were putting in to this,” he said.
“It speaks volumes for you guys because even at that standard you guys were in front of it, congratulations and thanks a lot.”
He said the overall entrants they had received was from the rural areas which led to them holding a competition for rural participants next year.
Each winner walked away with a Karyon technology worth $500, which SEPL has been distributing.
“Basically what it is its pharmaceutics and organic soil conditioner,” said Mr Samisoni.
“We already have customers, this year so far we probably had about $100,000 worth of sales, and obviously we are expecting that to pick up next year.
“We are noticing those we sold to 90 per cent to 95 per cent are coming back to buy more.”
Mr Samisoni said most agricultural products concentrated on the physical and the chemical aspect leaving out the biological side of it.
Former flight attendant Salote Ditoka said she had always planned to start farming after retiring from her previous job.
“It’s been good as we have managed to feed our family, there’s a lot of food we just don’t buy.
“I am overwhelmed and so grateful to them for starting an initiative like this and for actually for them to step out.
“I am really excited to go out and try this product because it’s organic and that is what we aim too because we eat the food that we plant and you want to sell it with a clear conscious that you are giving other people the best as well and not just giving it all for money,” she said.