Social Media Reporter in Agriculture-My Story

Background

Farming was the first industry to be established in this world and remains to be very important to Humans as for survival and this is confirmed through the life of Adam in the Bible. 

Fiji is blessed with a tropical weather and fertile soil but only a minority regard farming as a lucrative venture to find a career in it. The Fiji flag has even depicted agriculture on it.

I grew up in a small dairy farm on the outskirts of Korovou Town in Tailevu which was milking a little over 20 heifer daily. It was quite a distant to walk from the milk shed to the next serviced road where trucks cart  milk to the Rewa Dairy factory. 

The farm had to process cream through a cream separator machine and only have to get them to the road once a week. During weekends and school holidays we normally help in carrying this heavy cans, but it was fun.

Experience
From an early age I had an experience of farming which

youths of the network planting dalo

 was mainly dairy but personally I had a passion for crops. I always had  vegetables and root crops growing around our farm house and even when moving to Suva had a vegetable plot behind my flat. 

With all the passion in farming, I am now I am an executive of our young farmers network in the central

division and currently constructing a farm filed school where we can share our experiences with youths around the area. 

I  have an 8 acre land which i am farming organic vegetables and raising seedlings for customers. I started farming way back in 2007 but had issues with land and have decided to have my own leased land now. Just last week I started negotiations again with landowners to acquire another 20 acres for an organic ginger project and this is progressing well.

Pacific Youths in Organic Agriculture

In my efforts to attain organic accreditation I applied to attend a workshop which was conducted by the Pacific Organic & Ethical Trade Community (POETCOM). This workshop was in Port Villa in Vanuatu where it basically introduced organic principles and farming methods. This was an informative seminar and I did gain alot from the meet in broadening my knowledge and skills in organic farming. 

ICT in Agriculture
My view of  farming was very isolated until I had a call from Secretariat of the Pacific Community(SPC) in November of 2012 inviting me to attend a workshop in using web tools in agriculture. At first i asked myself,"ICT for agriculture", what it this?

Web 2.0 Training @USP 2012

At this training I was the only Farmer  to be among participants which was dominated by agricultural officers. Through this training I was able to acquire skills in using the internet tools for agricultural . I was amazed as most information I needed from extension officers were just a click away. This is the power of the internet! I saw the potential to increase my knowledge in farming and also explore ways to run farming as a business for income generation.




Blogging
I began to blog away the activities that I was doing at my farm and start to share my farming experience with the world. To blog is quite an effort as it takes time,money and commitment to be posting regularly on my blog. At times when I am fatigue I don't even have the strength to write a post on an important issue which is due for posting. 

Blogging is a free tool on the web and in the Pacific its usage in agriculture is insignificant. Through my blog viewers have related for advice in farming and also shared of their experiences. This has motivated me to continue blogging even-though the challenges I face as the benefits outweigh the costs.


In early September, SPC  organised a regional meet for youths in agriculture training them in web tools also I participated and was asked to present on what I did. This training was supported by The Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA).   Through my presentation the Permanent Secretary for Agriculture Mr Ropate Ligairi was present and commended my efforts and the  farmers group on what we were doing. I was surprised a week later when Mr Ligairi did a surprise visit to my farm to check out for the group and the farm filed school which we were building.


To be visited by such a man of authority is overwhelming and rarely happens and to me as a farmer it shows that in our little worlds we can be recognised if we continue to work hard and smart everyday. Although the work I do for our network is voluntary, I have faith that it is not to waste as our vision for engaging youths in agriculture will be achieved come tomorrow.

Through this blogging I am now training myself to be a social media reporter in agriculture and gaining experience each day. Through these skills acquired our network of farmers are also introduced to social media, thanks be to Web 2.0 fro development training .  I saw the COP19 social media boot camp advertised and applied through my abstract and was given an opportunity to be part of this learning event. 

I will be attending COP19 Social Media Bootcamp to learn and expand my knowledge base in social media, learn from experienced social media reporters, network with these reporters. Social media is new and at the moment and its use in the Pacific is merely on social entertainment/networking, it’s not effectively used to boost economic development. And this is why  in attending this meeting I will be able to assist our network and our country, and the Pacific region to change the way youths use social media for and the perception that it’s not for fun only but rather for agriculture as a career. 

I never thought that farming could bring me this far, now I am a social media reporter in agriculture!

Fiji Ginger on High Demand

There is something special when the world talks about ginger and its health benefits when consumed as a delicacy, medicine, or spice.

Fiji’s ginger is renowned for its unique flavor and high in oleoresins but low in fiber. Recently the Australian quarantine authorities have given us Fiji the green-light for our ginger to resume entry into their market. Fiji’s farmers and exporters are confident that it will gain wide acceptance and demand in the Australian market.

Agronet has prepared for it organic ginger planting material for 2014. We are starting with 1 chain which will have enough planting material for 2 acres. To my knowledge there is only 2 farms in Fiji which have been certified for organic ginger. 
This seedling chain will be used by the whole network in our experimentation of organic manures like seaweed, fish oil, and poultry manure. It will be a learning ground for all the farmers in organic ginger farming in the Central Division.

I caught up with Mr Kaiming, the ginger exporter who owns Kaiming Agro in Navua, and he mentioned to me that he demands 200 tonnes of organic ginger by 2014. At the moment only 20% of his export demand is met. He suggested to work with a group of farmers to farm to collectively achieve his tonnage demand.

My bid to partake in this business has triggered me to purchase  an extra 20 acres which is capable to farm and expected 20 chains with a minimum of 1.5 tonnes per chain.