Two rural farming clusters have been commended for their long-term vision of securing their village communities' livelihoods through mechanized agriculture while also ushering in a new era of commercial agriculture.

Nabua Rice Farmers Cooperative in Nabua Village, Cakaudrove and Dawasamu Vegetable Cooperative in Dawasamu, Tailevu received praise from Minister for Agriculture Hon. Dr Mahendra Reddy after investing $7,000.00 each as part of the one-third two-thirds programme of the Ministry of Agriculture to secure the procurement of a tractor and implements for their cooperatives.

While handing over the tractor to both cooperatives last week, Minister Reddy acknowledged the foresight of the members of both cooperatives as it set the platform for their future generations to succeed in agriculture.

“This is the beginning of a new era for commercial agriculture expansion in this area, had it not been for the leadership and vision of the elders here, this tractor wouldn’t have been here today, you sacrificed for the long-term vision for your community whereby you want to leave this place better off for your future generations,” he said.

“Though you may not be here to hear their praises for you, your children and grandchildren will say that on that day in 2022, our forefathers made some hard decisions that led to this level of commercial agriculture now and improved the quality of life for the village and I applaud you for that amazing decision,” Minister Reddy said.

Hon. Reddy said that for a rural community to collect a third of the cost of the tractor and implements in a short period of time was indicative of their commitment to improving their agricultural production.

“For you to collect $7,000 in a short period of time is a remarkable achievement and that shows how eager you are to push for growth and development of your area, region and mataqali so that your children can benefit, you all can benefit, you have the vision to put your resources to good use in a sustainable manner and I must commend you for that.

Nabua Rice Farmers Cooperative president Varasiko Dauniveimoto said they were witnesses to a new age of agricultural expansion in the district of Koroalau and acknowledged the continuous support of the Government in their communal farming exploits.

“We are entering into mechanized agriculture, we’ve always been advised by our agriculture officers to turn towards mechanization and part of our farming systems here has always been the traditional methods whereby we used the cane knives, digging forks, spades, and digging sticks but with the tractor here, it ushers in a new farming method for us here,” said Mr Dauniveimoto.

“We can hardly believe that we would one day own a machine of our own, over 40-50 years we’ve heard of the use of machines on farms without having a machine of our own but today is a very proud day for us because this is the start of something new for Nabua Village.

“This is a huge achievement for us, thank you very much to the Ministry of Agriculture and Government, we are now going to switch up our farming practice and become full-time commercial farmers who will treat farming as a business instead of just being village farmers,” added Mr Dauniveimoto.

Dawasamu Vegetable Cooperative representative Semesa Masau of Nabualau Village thanked the Ministry of Agriculture for setting the foundation for them to be able to own a brand new tractor.

“The handing over of the tractor symbolizes the Government’s trust in us to unlock the economic potential through agriculture. This machine is also a leverage to us in our struggles against the rising prices through mass production for our farm produce. It will increase our income and our ability to improve our standard of living and it will also assist us in our transition from being subsistence farmers to commercial farmers and we will do our best to change the agricultural platform of the Dawasamu economy,” said Mr Masau. 

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