VILIAME TIKOTANI
There is no substitute for hard work and man has to continue to work harder everyday whether it is on a farm or a career in whatever path one chooses.
“Our bodies will only get stronger if we continue to work hard every day, and there is no substitute for it,” says Ram Latchman of Nagana, Ra.
The successful 70-year-old farmer, who was brought under the spotlight by the Ministry of Agriculture, has been toiling the land all his life and speaks of his experience of getting to where he is today.
“It’s only through hard work because I work hard every day,” Mr Latchman said.
“I used to farm sugar cane back in the days and switched to vegetable farming because of the difficulties I encountered with my laborers. I didn’t have a good source for electricity and water and it was difficult for me. When I gave my workers three meals a day and pay, they still didn’t stay back with me so I had to make a decision,” he said when asked about the secret to his success in vegetable and fruit farmer.
Mr Latchman is a descendant from the sugarcane belt and took over the farm from his parents.
He had studied mechanical engineering and has a small garage in Rakiraki town but his venturing into farming came about because of many reasons.
The first reason was the continuation of the family legacy of sugarcane farming.
“I tried sugar cane farming for 17 years and experienced the shift and difficulties within the sector because the leases expired and so forth, with the laborers not coming to help in the farms because they had found a better or easier way to make a living,” Mr Latchman said.
This was when he gave it a good thought and observed the situation which led him to making the difficult decision. “I had to work hard to move on with my life, it was not an easy road.
I had to inspire myself again and to do that I had to find motivation. I watched this movie about a vegetable farmer and I saw myself in it,” Mr Latchman said.
“But I still had to work hard and finding a proper land was the main thing and I am happy to say that I have not looked back since. Nothing comes in easy and I am still working hard every day.
I wake up and work in the farm in the morning and I can feel in my body that I am still strong because I keep working hard.”
Mr Latchman first planted watermelons and pineapples after sugarcane and left the garage business to his son to manage.
“My first watermelon harvest was $18,000 and I bought a new truck from it and then moved on to pineapple where I made $16,000 in one harvest,” he said.
“Now I have planted about 100,000 plants of pineapple and because it is one plant that I only plant once and can harvest nine times. So I just make sure that the plants are cleared and that it is not destroyed by insects or my animals.”
Mr Latchman owns a fair amount of livestock, chickens, sheep, and goats and even some layer birds.
One challenge this inspirational farmer faces, but is not daunted by, is that his farms is situated on one of the top hillside above Rakirako Town and here the farm road has not been maintained.
Upon visiting his farm, agriculture officers made note of the poor road conditions.
Mr Latchman is appreciative to the Government of the day for the assistance it had given to the people especially farmers.
“I make at least $3,000 a month from my harvest but there are other things that I pay like manure and other stuff to maintain my farm but I thank Government for helping us farmers with all the equipment, water tanks etc.,” he said.
“However my advice to people is that we have to work hard because that is the only way, no substitute for hard work.”