The Rise of Organics in the Pacific- NZHERALD

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/element-magazine/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503340&objectid=11364893

Land Grabbing in Fiji

The issue of Land being grabbed by foreigners is a global issue and Fiji is not excluded either. After the summit in Bordeaux, France  i now realize that other governments are putting some form of control on land ownership to protect its citizens from being exploited by foreign investors. Others have farmer organisation which have been given constitutional powers to excise  addressing this issue.

Fiji is classified as a third world country and normally we don't give much notice on such land transactions and transfers as we prefer the investment necessitated. It is by far more important to drive investment rather than trying to protect citizens.

Fiji is experiencing the Asian invasion whereby Chinese investors not only buying commercial and residential properties but more to this is the buying of farm lands. I spoke with a representative from a land stakeholder organisation and was informed that they are one of the high buyers. And they buy with cash. Their purchasing power is far greater than those of locals who are financially stricken. Locals are on the loosing end.

There are no pressure groups from landowners and farmers, or if they do exist they is no impact on this problem.

We need to stand up to the need so as to secure the next generation of farmers.

Toso Viti!

Fiji Ginger at Budrim Ginger-Worlds Largest Ginger Factory

Fiji ginger is making its way into the Australia's ginger processing factory in Yandina,Sunshine Coast, Queensland. The company not only is a ginger factory producing a variety of ginger products but is a tourist attraction luring tourists flocking the Sunshine Coast to catch a glimpse of ginger. The tour basically introduces how ginger is farmed, harvested and processed into different products which is sold worldwide. During the tour we were briefed on planting to processing of ginger.

I a ginger farmer was waiting eagerly to know how they the company can be processing 2 tonnes of fermented ginger daily all year round. It quite a huge volume of raw ginger. I had questions in my mind where were the supply coming from to process that much of ginger. Later I had an opportunity to see one of their corporate manger whom i approached to try explore opportunities for a market for our young ginger farmers here in Fiji. Only to be told that they own Frespac in Wailada, Lami. In the tour nothing at all was mentioned that they sourced their ginger supply from Fiji. It sounded as if it was all locally Australian ginger.

The Factory

 

This ginger factory is huge and it uses all ginger byproducts like fermented juices are made to make ginger juice, ginger fiber is used for ginger bread and so forth.

 Just by seeing the size of this factory one would realize the volume of production and the markets in which their produts are being sold into. They are a recognised ginger factory in the world with their scintillating ginger base products.

After the tour of the factory we are taken into the tasting room to try some of the ginger products.

Below you see a tasitng plate with the ginger juice which was my favorite as it gives a refershing feeling as you gulp it down, wow its nice, you need to try it to believe me.

The Products:

International YOUNG Farmers Meet in France

The international young farmer's summit was hosted in Bordeaux, France from the 4th to the 6th of September,2014.

AgroNet Fiji was given an opportunity by to attend and was the only Pacific network represented.

I hadn't traveled to Europe and this was my first. The long hours which totaling a flying time of 28 hours was hectic with swollen feet giving evidence.

Apart from the hassle of travel and thus language in France, many lessons have been learned from other young farmer's network around the world. There were a total of 60 countries represented. Being the only Pacific country at the meet it was an opportunity to highlight challenges we face in our little island nations.

Great to have networking with farmer's groups whom some have existed over 50 yrs.

AgriBusiness Support Project (ASP) for Samoa

By Lagi Keresoma

APIA: THURSDAY 19 JUNE 2014: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Samoam government today signed the AgriBusiness Support Project (ASP) to provide business support services and financing to the agricultural businesses in Samoa.

The grant of $5 million from ADB and the $0.17 million from the Samoan government will help boost the “economic performance by addressing constraints that hinder increased trade and export.”

The project aims at sustaining commercial agribusinesses.

“The project is also working with the ANZ bank to provide suitable financing services to partner agribusiness,” said the visiting ADB Vice President Ms. Lakshmi Venkatachalam who signed the project with Samoa’s Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi.

“Agribusiness provides jobs and income. So their development will play a critical role in promoting a sustainable and inclusive growth for the community,” said Venkatachalam.

Agribusiness are small scale family business with less than 400 employees.

Their focus is on agro-industrial production such as chilli sauce, banana chips or fresh products for export or banana chips, or fresh products for export such as taro or Tahitian limes. They engage a significant number of smallholder families as suppliers of raw material. Agribusinesses are, therefore, critical for stimulating agricultural production.

The Samoa AgriBusiness Support Project aims to boost Samoa’s economic performance by addressing constraints that hinder increased trade and export. The project will assist selected commercial agribusinesses grow sustainably and will work with participating commercial banks to provide suitable financing services to partner agribusinesses.

Establishing contractual raw materials supply with farmers and improving product quality are all under the projects provisions.

The grant will be executed within an eight years time frame.

Free Internet Access for Earth

One of the most challengers Farmers have is connectivity as their locality are remote and communication is a barrier and an obstacle to their daily activities.

Farmers try to keep up with technological advancements and communicate effectively with access to timely

information which has a co-relating  impact on productivity. The much needed information like weather, seeds, market prices and potential markets are some issues apart from the many which Farmers need to have access to at any point in time.

Mostly Farmers are remotely located and most communication providers do not have the infrastructure to allow for such services to reach farming communities. One of the main reasons why network providers shy away from this localities is because of the immense cost involved in set up and maintaining such services.

But there is a new project which has been developed by Media Development Investment Fund  to provide free access to internet data through wifi, made available effectively to all parts of the world. It is called the "OUTERNET" which could be the solution farmers are waiting for.

This project is said to be made available in 2015.

More information on the project can be viewed through wikipedia

Floods Devastate Fiji Farmers

Climate change is taking it toll on small island nations in the Pacific and the changing weather patterns is causing alot of problems to our nation and particularly the farmers of Fiji.

Dalo Plantation under water (source mininfo)

Last week Fiji faced a tropical depression and we farmers have lost alot through the effects of heavy rain leading to flooding.

In the next few days Agronet will be publish an article on the effects of the flood on the dalo root.

Not only we dalo farmers are affected but also poultry farmers as well.

Please do leave your comments or views on climate change effects on farmers below in the comment box.

Thanks
Andrew Weleilakeba

Coloi Youths Move Inland

Coloi youths are a group of farmers in Sawakasa, Tailevu North and their main crop is Kava. These youths face challenges daily and a significant one is the distance to travel to their farm lands. The distance from the village to their farm is around  70km and it is unrealistic to travel there daily.

the farm shelter which needs to be worked on to provide the comfort

 Team Leader Te Navila has organised their plans for the year and setting targets to have better houses to ensure the youths live in comfort after a hard days work. He made a review on their farms and found that these youths are lured back into the village to attend to village obligations and thus loose focus on their farms. The immediate needs identified were  access to farm to be cleared and maintained, accommodation to be improved, and each youth to have own shelter by the end of the year.

youths meeting to better their farming activities for 2014

In the kava plantation weed controlling 

Youths Trained on Dalo Harvesting

Dalo planting and harvesting is part of subsistence farming in Fiji and any youth brought up in a farm would obviously know the trick of the trade. But for commercial farmers it is important that it is done the right way. Samu believes that if youths are to be lured into farming they need to be introduced into farming at a very early age with hands on experience. Here we see that harvesting stirs alot of interest among these youths as the crop are ready for the market and all are calculating the value one bundle can fetch!

Samu teaching youths of the clan

A group of youths who are mostly cousins from a clan in the village of Navuso took time off from their daily routine to learn from Samu (experienced farmer) on how to harvest Dalo for the local market. Samu has been in the trade as a farmer for over 25years.

The youths are lucky to have an experienced teacher to teach them on this skill. It may seem just like another dalo harvest but the fact is that would be youths are introduced to farming experiences at the perfect age.

Drain Maintenance Challenges Youths

In the Central Eastern part of Viti Levu, rain drops every day and then. For farmers rain assists us tremendously in irrigating crops but to only to an extent, when too much it causes alot of problems. Ploughing flat lands becomes hard and drains are waterlogged.

Within the area of Nausori a group of youths have been challenged with the water-logs in their farm fields causing rot to crops and its becomes breeding places for unwanted insects and pests. A youth member of this group who call the "Veitacini Farmers" named Masi was caught on camera cleaning the  problem drains.

Upon interview Masi mentioned that the issue with drains was just recent and it never used to bother them.
In the past year, government through the department of works used to dredge the Rewa river which runs close to their farm and this has stopped. There are no funds allocated by the government to cater for this vital works which has a correlating effect to farm fields. They have to resort to physical maintenance which is quite time consuming and demands alot of labor and energy.

This task will continue as they struggle with water until the dredging and drain maintenance will resume.

Rip Logs Cut Costs

A group of youths from Naitutu Village in Tailevu have assisted youths in the Districts of Namalata building their homes at a very low cost. The Youths led by their Uncle Save are hopping from villages to settlements, and farms ripping timber to construct farmhouse for these youths.

These youths who are basically subsistence farmers do not have much capital to afford a home loan or even a regular income to buy building materials. Thanks to Save and his saw-milling brigade who have provided a service to their community which is of immense value.

Youths are now able to build their homes way way cheaper than what the hardware offers. Timber is very expensive and it dominates majority of a home building budget. Through these team of youths, they have ripped logs which are readily available in the forests.

Below is a snap-video of them ripping a Mahogany Tree which is an ideal choice for timber in tropical homes.

click to watch:  http://youtu.be/3vqXPjXf1qk

Please post your comments below in the box.

Women start to do Organics!

Organic farm project

Luke Rawalai
Saturday, February 08, 2014

WOMEN of Korotubu in Macuata have embarked on an organic farming project funded by Global Environment Facility in conjunction with World Wide Fund for Nature.

Korotubu Village Soqosoqo Vakamarama head Emele Naikabe said they were using manure and byproducts from their village piggery to make an organic nursery farm.

Mrs Naikabe said vegetable seedlings and cuttings were often developed at the nursery before they were transplanted to farms in the village.

"This is a good way of promoting good health among our people through the food they eat," she said.

"At the same time we are recycling and reusing the byproducts of our piggery farm instead of polluting the environment.

"We the women's group in Korotubu believe that we can all work together for the conservation of our environment."

(Source: Fiji Times)