RETIRED school teachers Jekesoni and Salaseini Koroi never planned to return to cane farming after abandoning their Buabua, Lautoka, farm in 2013.
“We left the sugarcane business because the land preparation, harvesting and transportation costs were too high,” said Mr Koroi.
“It was very difficult to hire machinery and we just couldn’t cope.”
This all changed when they met Australian agriculture expert Brendan Davies early this year.
Mr Davies is the owner of FarmWorld-Fiji, a company established to assist nil-producing growers like Mr and Mrs Koroi get back into the cane farming business.
“Because of Brendan and FarmWorld-Fiji, a lot of unproductive growers like us are now keen to re-enter cane growing,” Mrs Koroi said.
“By working with the Sugar Cane Growers Fund, Sugar Cane Growers Council and Government, we have been able to secure funds and that has meant that we did not have to fork out money from our pockets for land preparation and planting.
“Our children, who had previously not shown any interest in cane planting are now coming back home because of what they are seeing here and we would like to thank FarmWorld-Fiji, SCGF, SCGC and Government for that.”
