Picture: Burelevu Cooperative spokesperson Ilivasi Drou with the tractor operator
The Farm
Mechanization Program of the Ministry of Agriculture and Waterways has gone a
long way to assist farmers of Burelevu with their livelihood.
The
villagers formed the Burelevu Co-operative, a village-based cluster, to assist
farmers in land preparation in the village of Burelevu, located in the district
of Nalaba in the province of Ra.
Cooperative
spokesperson Ilivasi Drou said the villagers are keen farmers who want to
embrace new technologies on their farms.
“Villagers
of Burelevu village have been farming for a long time but have been facing
difficulties in the cultivation of the land for smart agricultural practices,”
he said.
“We have
been producing but not to the maximum of our land capacity because we do not
have the right technology for maximum land preparation works.”
“I guess
we just refused to toil the available land because we lacked so many farm
machineries and have been using animals for ploughing and using the traditional
methods of farming,” he explained.
He said
that in one of the village meetings, there were discussions on areas to boost agricultural
production and raise the standard of living.
“Previously,
because of the increasing number of demands from other farmers in Ra on the
government assistance in the tractor operation for land preparations, we would
wait for weeks and months,” said Ilivasi.
“This
usually affected our production because we had to wait, which resulted in
either missing the planting season or reducing the production area because we
were using animals to plough,” he said.
The urge
to produce was high, so the villages of Burelevu approached the Ministry of
Agriculture and Waterways for directions to solve the mechanization problem to alleviate
poverty in the village.
The
Ministry of Agriculture and Waterways then introduced the Farm Mechanization
Program to them.
The
tractor cost $39,000 and the Ministry of Agriculture and Waterways arranged for
Burelevu Cooperative to only pay one-third of the total price through the Farm
Mechanization Program.
“It was a
one-third and two-third basis and it was a wonderful idea for us as this would
increase efficiency in production and help combat poverty in the village and
the Nalaba district as a whole,” said Ilivasi.
After
three years of trying, the collective work of the village enabled them to
achieve their one–third of $15,000 in July 2022 and the cooperative initiative
is benefitting 150 Burelevu villagers.
In three
years, the villagers fundraised for their share with patience and perseverance.
“We would
host fundraising drives in the village for the sole intention of our one-third
contribution and when we reached our target, we approached the Ministry of
Agriculture again for the tractor.”
To date,
the tractor has worked a total of 1,000 operating hours. When it first started,
it reached a total of 250 hours operating within the village boundary at $30
per hour to every village farmer and from the money collected the cooperative
could pay the tractor operator, re-fuel and put into the village bank account
$10 from every hour the tractor operates.
With the
technical advice from the Ministry of Agriculture and daily communication, the
Burelevu Cooperative decided to operate the tractor at $37.50 per hour.
The
Burelevu Cooperative tractor has extended its services to the villages of
Burenitu, Namata, Nativi, Batiga, Nabalebale, Raviravi and Nayavulevu.
“There
has been a significant change, and we have seen the huge benefit of getting our
tractor. This change has greatly impacted our agricultural production as a
whole,” said Ilivasi.
“From
little plots, we are now planting in acres with a wide variety of vegetables
and root crops and the farming interest in the village has also increased.”
“Having
the land is a blessing, and we don’t have to pay for anything. To combat
poverty, we should make use of the land and work together as a cooperative to
help us move forward,” he advised.
63-year-old
farmer Iliaseri Natabadamu from Burelevu village is one of the villagers who is
also benefitting from the cooperative tractor.
“We are
grateful that we have moved from using animals to mechanization. It has moved
Burelevu forward and we are happy that we can see a change in the village,
something we have been trying for a very long time,” he said.
Iliaseri
plants root crops such as kumala and assorted vegetables and says that he has
hired the tractor for the third time on his land.
“We can
plant crops we couldn’t plant before because of the limited land clearing and
the introduction of the tractor brings about relief and has painted a different
farming picture on the flatlands of Burelevu with now acres of land ploughed
and planted,” said Iliaseri.
The
cooperative hopes to also move into semi-commercial and commercial farming in
the near future.
-Ends-