Assistance through the Sugar Research Institute of Fiji have been instrumental in encouraging farmers from Nasolo Ba to continue with cane farming.
Prime Minister Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama during a visit last week to the area witnessed at first hand the impact of the assistance in the form of a new cane variety known as ‘Kiuva’.
Commodore Bainimarama as part of his tour of the cane areas, supported through assistance from the Institute visited one of the 5 recipients of SRIF’s assistance.
Nasolo cane farmer Aisea Ratoto with a total farm area of 15 acres is one of the recipient of the assistance.
The assistance to farmers where the ‘kiuva’ cane variety was tested included clearing bushes , ploughing of land and planting of the ‘kiuva’ variety. It also included payment for the labourers use.
Ratoto said that apart from cane they also planted cucumber, watermelon and long bean. He said this is the first year in cane farming for them.
The Turaga ni Koro at Nasolo Village, Mr Tevita Seletui, said they are thankful to SRIF for using some of their farms in testing the new cane variety.
“ It’s an eye opener to us as we witness how SRIF actually neatly changes the outlook of the farms in planting the new variety. We are very much thankful to the assistance by SRIF in this regard. We also thank the Prime Minister for taking his time to visit grassroots people like us,” Seletui said.