VILIAME TIKOTANI
The land is like an automated teller machine (ATM) and when you farm it you can withdraw money from it. These are the sentiments of farmer Ravindra Goundar of Rakiraki.
Mr Goundar is a vegetable farmer and, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, a successful one after years of farming vegetable and supplying his produce to the main centers in Lautoka and Rakiraki.
His story is one of humility as he used to rent a house at the back of Rakiraki town and started his own backyard vegetable gardening to assist in paying his rent for seven years. “I had been working overseas and returned to Fiji after many years of trying to make a living working in another person’s farm, but I can say that Fiji is a beautiful country and it has got rich land,” he said while reminiscing about his days in New Zealand.
“I used to get $100 a day working there but here I can make $100 one morning selling 10 heaps to dhania (coriander) to a market vendor in Lautoka and that is how simple it is.” “I plant lettuce, cucumber, okra, tomatoes, cabbage and other cash crops and make over more than what I used to get overseas,” he said. “Today I am able to lease this 15 acre land and also build my two houses and one house for the head of the mataqali land which I am leasing.”
Mr Goundar extends his appreciation to the Government of the day for assisting the farmers and Fijians by uplifting their livelihood.