iTaukei families from urban areas are moving back to the village in a bid to escape the COVID-19 outbreak and to sustain themselves off the land.
Alena Salome, a mother of six and grandmother of eight, used to be a market vendor in Ba.
She and her family relocated to Nanuku Village because life was getting too hard in the urban centre.
Ms Salome said her six children had also relocated to the village after finding it too hard to cope with the economic challenges brought on by the pandemic.
“I used to sell produce at the market but I had to stop because of the lockdowns and containment,” she said.
“Now we just come to our plantation, spend one or two days working on the farm and then we take back what we need for the week.
“Most of my children moved back to the village with their children because of the lockdown. “We are getting by with the little that we have.”
Ms Salome said keeping her family safe was more important than making money.
“I sometimes think about going to the market to sell but with this virus, we don’t know what could happen.
“None of us want to get sick so we just stay in the village.”
