Government’s objective in creating employment opportunities and income generating projects for Fijians is paying dividends for a group of families in Lomaivuna, Naitasiri.
In 2011, Government began moving residents from squatter communities and settling them in parts of the country to begin income generating projects. Five families were moved from their settlements and relocated to Lomaivuna to carry out agricultural activities as a form of employment.
Petero Volau was one of those residents relocated from Wailoku squatter settlement to Lomaivuna for this pilot project. Today, with the other five families, they have collected more than $25,000 in profits alone from planting and selling ginger for domestic and international export markets since 2011.
“When I was in Wailoku, I had no permanent job and my family was struggling with food. I thank the Prime Minister and Local Government ministry as well as the People’s Community Network (PCN) for giving me this opportunity to earn income,” Volau said.
The forty-nine year old now has a five acre piece of land that he uses for farming cabbage, cassava, watermelon and dalo.
This year, Government has allocated $0.7million for the project which aims to alleviate poverty particularly for those living in squatter communities.
The on-going project for this year includes Lomaivuna and Vanuakula in Naitasiri, Maumi in Tailevu, Nativi in Ra and Nalotawa in Ba. More than 150 households from these areas have benefited from this program.
This pilot project was one of the successful projects to lift the standard of living for these families through agricultural training under Government’s Sustainable Income Generating project
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