Vanuatu Kava a Potential Export Commodity

Kava or Piper methysticum is a crop of the Western Pacific and is widely used as a ceremonial beverage for centuries. It is a crop that demands aging for maturity as some plants take for at least 4 years then its ready for harvest. The potency of the kava depends mainly on soil type, weather and the number of years it has been grown for.

In Vanuatu kava is an integral part of their daily lives as it has been used as a substitute for crops like cocoa and copra which have an unstable price, whereas kava price remains to be consistent. Most farmers in Malekula Island in Vanuatu farm Kava to be sold as green kava for 200 Vatu per kg. In the village of Mae alone on the northern part of Malekula Island a total of 16 farmers have an estimate of 60 tonnes ready for harvest. A few weeks ago I visited the farmers to train them on how to add value to this crop so as to reap a maximum return on this long term crop. 

The kava market  is mainly Santo and Port Vila but the farmers always complain that buyers often cheat them by not paying total sale price thus discouraging them to sell. As it is there is alot of matured kava ready but farmers do not agree with the market price and conditions. Upon enlightening them on the value adding of kava from green to dry, the farmers are eager to take this on and try to export dry kava through a local exporter. Even though there is a kava exporter in Santo the farmers still feel that their produce are sold undervalued. 

Mae Kava farmer Kaloris Mone in total has over 1600 kava stumps of which 800 are 7 years old. In calculation of this 800  kava stump it can average a weight of 30 Kg thus can give a yield of around 24 tonnes earning him 4.8 million vatu. 

Adding value to this commodity is not as hard as one may think as Nivans thought that it was pretty complicated process. It will only take 2 weeks for kava to be 100% dry and ready for sale to exporters. This extra work could earn them over 400% more from a kg compared to selling them green. It was good to see the smiling faces of the farmers when they were told the potential their crop has as an export commodity.

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.

Mobile Reporting Solution

Often there are hiccups with reports being clear,brief, accurate, concise, timely and reliable for decision makers. In the Pacific most remote areas lack electricity, computer and the internet which makes reporting even harder.  

A software developer recently developed an application which can be installed on a mobile phone and used to report on the targeted activity. The app works well even if the network coverage has only one signal bar on reception. But interestingly which mobile provider in Fiji will offer their service cheaply to implement this type of application.

Practically his reporters used to give excuses that electricity is out, no paper to photocopy report sheets, fax fault, etc, the list goes on but with this app it has fitted in well in the reporting process and the reporters are able to report like never before.

In Fiji we will deploy this app once we will secure a donor to fund the implementation with farmers who are members of our syndicate. The app installation will be free but only to members. The farmers desperately need this information bank on the palm of their hand. Mobile revolution in Fiji has penetrated well with levels well and above 100 percent. Some users even are using more than 1 network to communicate.

This app will attend to some basic issues which farmers face daily. For instance consider farmers in the highlands where roads are ill-maintained and transport is even harder to get to extension centers for advice. With a mobile installed with this app, costs are minimized, travelling time are waived, information is readily available when the need arise. 

This digital empowerment  bridge's the digital divide which is by far the widest in the rural communities. Smallholder farmers not only are accessible to information on farming but also on markets and current prices. In this way farmers are able to establish the costs which are involved from production to harvesting and marketing, wittingly the fruit of their labor.

In Fiji when comparing Digicel and Vodafone with their coverage Digicel is better and 3G is consistent while vodafone it drops to GSM in the outskirts of the islands.

Nadi Bay Herbs: A Success Story

basil seedlings at the nursery

Nadi Bay Herbs has been exporting herb to NZ since 1992, the farm is 47 acres of which 15 acres are in full production.The main export crop is basil which is processed and sold on the market. Ranges of other herbs are also exported and sold within Fiji the Company supply to hotels, resorts and the locals.

Recently I visited the farm and had an opportunity to speak with Mr John Kemp the owner of this successful business. They have been rebuilding their farm after they were badly hit by cyclone last year where most of the infrastructure were critically damaged.

They export basil which is a core produce of the farm to New Zealand at a volume of over 50 tonnes yearly. Apart from basil also lemon grass is exported. 

Even though this is a herb farm, they also farm tomatoes, capsicum, lettuce on the side for some of their local clients.

NBH major market are overseas and their focus has been for export in their production. I asked Mr Kemp why they have heavily focused on export and he said this words, 

" to sell local we have higher overhead costs because we deliver our clients on a daily basis and above all we have bad paying clients which incur bad debts. Even-though they are hotels they still run up their accounts and never pay up, that's why we stopped as it uneconomical to continue'

This is a good lesson to us farmers who have clients that you run after for payment. For instance if you total your extra costs like telephone  fuel, legal, etc that you incur to recover your debts, eventually it turns out to be the same as your recovered debt. What a waste and this is why we farmers need to be wise and alert not to be burdened by bad debtors and it is always good to have cash transactions to avoid all this hassle.

I noticed that alot of women worked as laborers and asked Mr Kemp why was that, he answered saying that he has a strict scheduling to be followed and only women are able to meet this. He goes on to say that women are more disciplined than men and he has had men as supervisors but could not cope with the demand from his business. 

This trait of women is a fact and they tend to be more careful and cautious when they handle plants from the nursery to the fields and the harvesting. We men are challenged through this fact and need to be more disciplined in all the areas of our lives especially if we are running a farm to support our family.

One significant point raised to me was that soil color at the farm are starting to change from red to be more darker. Mr Kemp said that he does not farm the herbs but rather farms the soil. He at the moment is nearly fully organic as all ingredients for fertilizers are green and brown materials with sugar mill waste and poultry manure . He doesn't use alot of poultry manure as it is too acidic and increases soil acidity. This is good to know as we use alot of poultry manure in the central division little do we realize the effect it has. Soil testing is done regularly in his farm and this is how concerned he is on how healthy is his farm soil.

Apart from the above discussions, a farm of such magnitude needs soil health to be monitored and nurtured to give a nutrient balance thus supporting plant health better. 

Lessons from NBH:

1. Have a farm plan and strictly follow it
2. Women are more Reliable
3. Grow your soil for a sustainable future
4. Practice organic farming principles as it lowers costs..