A coconut orchard was recently commissioned for the village of Nawamagi along Sigatoka’s East Bank to address the lack of coconuts for the village and its inhabitants.

The Minister for Agriculture Hon. Dr Mahendra Reddy, while commissioning the orchard said by establishing the orchard, Nawamagi Village was taking the first step towards large-scale coconut farming which was a commendable effort.

“We are pushing for the expansion of coconut farming in the Western Division, to establish more coconut orchards because at the moment, we only have large-scale coconut plantations in Vanua Levu namely Cakaudrove Province and on Taveuni but that isn’t enough to meet our needs,” said Hon. Reddy.

Minister Reddy shared that there was a growing demand for copra, fresh coconut juice, coconut oil and other coconut products but the number of coconut orchards and plantations remained stagnant with the growing need prevalent to replace senile coconut trees.

He also praised the elders of Nawamagi for their foresight in expanding their agricultural ventures by taking up coconut planting.

“So we want to expand coconut plantations on a large scale, and if large scale plantations are not possible then we can at least start off with smaller coconut farms to increase the acreage under coconut farming here in the Western Division.

“Being leaders of your community and Mataqali, by taking this step to grow coconuts, it is a good sign towards the success of our push towards growing the coconut industry locally,” said Minister Reddy.

He also called upon other interested and potential coconut farmers throughout the country to come forward and show their interest as the Ministry of Agriculture would be on hand to provide the coconut planting material, with the farmers’ only responsibility being to have their land prepared and ready for planting.

Meanwhile Nawamagi elder Mr Joeli Fatafehi said the coconut orchard would be of great help to the villagers.

“I want to thank the Ministry because first of all, in this area, there is a huge shortage of coconuts, there are no coconut trees here but with this coconut orchard it will help the village, particularly our food requirement first and foremost and we can also make our own coconut oil when the time is right,” said Mr Fatafehi.

“We can also be able to sell the coconuts at the market to help generate much-needed income for our village, this is the first step for us and we look forward to reaping the rewards from this coconut farm,” Mr Fatafehi added.

The establishment of the Nawamagi Coconut Orchards was part of the Ministry of Agriculture’s commemorative celebrations of World Coconut Day which is celebrated annually on 2^nd September.

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