SCHOOLchildren of Vitawa Village in Ra are joining their parents to plant cassava after classes.
Napolioni Naisara of Vitawa, who is also the Raviravi district rep, said villagers exported 32 tonnes of cassava over the past four months.
He said an unprecedented demand for cassava had encouraged villagers and schoolchildren alike to invest in the industry.
"From these 32 tonnes, we earned around $11,000 which has been distributed to villagers based on production.
"It's encouraging to see that even schoolchildren, during their spare time, are helping their parents out in the farms, some students even have farms of their own. We exported 4610kg (4.6 tonnes) in June, 7731kg (7.7tonnes) in July, 7004kg (7tonnes) in August and 13,440kg (13tonnes) last month."
Mr Naisara said apart from the economic benefits, farmers had been educated on how to manage income earned from the sale of the cassava.
"We have educated the villagers to make good use of their financial returns and for the kids to save money.
"We have seen drastic improvements in terms of land utilisation and most vacant land has been planted with cassava."
Mr Naisara also urged villagers, especially the youths, to maintain consistency for the export market.