JYOTI PRATIBHA
NADARIVATU
An aerial view of the growing Fanstasy Island development at Wailoaloa in Nadi from a helicopter. Details Page 3 Photo: WAISEA NASOKIA
Nestled in the highlands, amongst mountains and cliffs, Nadarivatu is home to people who fall under three different provinces.
Under the leadership of the Nadarivatu district officer, Osea Ravukivuki, and in partnership with non-government organisation, Partnership Community Development Fiji, this project is now nearing fruition.
Hundreds of farmers from the tikina o Savatu under Ba Province, Navatusila and Nadrau under Nadroga/Navosa Province and Naboubovu in Naitasiri are now moving away from subsistence farming in semi-commercial.
Hopefully, in coming years, they will eventually shift to fully commercial farming.
The target of this area is farming of non-seasonal vegetables. While Sigatoka Valley caters for all seasonal vegetables, during off-seasons, certain vegetables and commodities are more expensive and not available.
This is where Nadarivatu intends to thrive. Mr Ravukivuki is hopeful that Nadarivatu has the potential to replace the Salad Bowl in vegetable farming.
“In Nadarivatu, farmers have ventured into potato farming, grapes and we know that with the right training, we can get back into it,” he said.
Right now, the focus of the NGO is to train the farmers in high value agriculture such as capsicum, carrots, tomatoes etc.
NewWorld partnership
While the farmers have been able to step up, the project hit a snag in finding the market for their produce. It became very costly for farmers to cart their goods to Tavua, Lautoka and Ba market.This is where NewWorld Supermarket has come up with their support.
There are talks for NewWorld Supermarkets to build a cooling facility in Nadarivatu. Plans are that farmers will no longer need to travel to markets to sell their produce.
Most, if not all, would be bought by NewWorld Supermarkets and then transported to their supermarkets around the country.
Mr Ravukivuki said they are looking at what NewWorld has to offer and how farmers can benefit.
“We are grateful to have NewWorld on board with us,” he said.
“We are just finishing off value chain analysis and finalising rates with NewWorld. Once that’s done, farmers will have a lot to look forward to.”
Mr Ravukivuki said major developments have also been planned for Nadarivatu.
A Post Office is in the pipeline and BSP Bank has also shown interest in opening up a branch in the highlands.
Bank South Pacific has also been roped in to assist farmers in making the transition into semi-commercial farming. A test case of six farmers has started whereby loans have been given to them by BSP to make the transition.
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