Page 22 - IB March 2021

Agriculture Agriculture

to keep refining their new products or recipes.
Janey King-Lilo says there are lots of people doing good
work with local food and ingredients right now, but she is
worried about sustainability. The business she and husband,
Wayne Lilo run, not only provides consulting and training
services, but also supplies jams, chutneys, pestos, pates and
other products to hotels.
They say the cost of business is still very high, so for ex-
ample, businesses are required to pay advance tax based on
2019 turnover (when business turnover in 2020 is a fraction of
that). Duties can also be a hindrance, for example when the
tax on imported vegetables goes down or on packaging goes
up .
“I fear that it is all happening now, and people are making
lovely products and whatnot and hotels are really, really ac-
cepting this stuff and opening doors, and it’s all about locally
grown and locally made; I think it’s because we all have time
to make it or it is more expensive to import…but I honestly
don’t think it is going to continue,” says King-Lilo.
Her fears appear well-founded. Lee says while the demand
from visitors for locally sourced food is there, they seek ways
to offset their carbon footprint, there’s still a lot of work to
be done.
“If they see the benefit of this program, the farmers, and
the middlemen also see this benefit, I still believe you will
need to move the needle, not a lot, but a bit.”

editor@islandsbusiness.com

“There is definitely an interest in this Maneta acknowledged the assistance
programme that will benefit farmers in provided by the Ministry of Agriculture that
providing a market that will provide a helped expand her dairy farm.
consistent income,” he said. She was provided fencing materials that
Woman Dairy farmer benefits Maneta Lakhan, 55, a widow and dairy allowed her to divide her paddocks to
from Agriculture programme farmer of Waidalice, Tailevu is one such separate her livestock from their feeding
successful recipient of the programme. area, as well as building materials to
Despite the Dairy sector being a male- construct her milking shed.
dominated industry, Maneta has fought the “Agriculture also gave me Juncao grass
odds, heavy as they were, to show that she and other grasses to plant to help with the
was just as good as her male counterparts. feed for the cows,” she explained.
Since taking over the dairy farm from her In commemorating International
husband who passed away in 2014, Maneta Women’s Day, Maneta’s advice to women
has vigorously labored on the business that was short and simple. “Women can do
began from her father-in-law, passed to her anything, if I can run a dairy farm, why can’t
husband, and now to her. other women?”
It has been a slow but grilling climb
towards becoming a successful semi-
commercial dairy farmer but putting in the
hard yards was not new to her.
Today, she has 23 milking cows from a
total herd of 70.
Reducing Fiji’s dairy import bill is one of the “When I took over the farm, there were 16
key focuses of the Ministry of Agriculture’s milking cows at that time. It was very hard
Dairy Industry Support programme. for me in the beginning. But I had to do it,
Agriculture Permanent Secretary, Mr. there was no one else,” she vividly recalls.
Ritesh Dass said the programme was Her farm produces 120 litres of milk on
designed to help raise and improve the a daily basis and Maneta plans to increase
Fiji dairy industry’s contribution to increase milk production to 200 litres by next year.
the overall local milk production and also Her farm is spread over 120 acres of land “Women can do anything, if I can run a
improve rural income earning capacities where she also breeds livestock and plants dairy farm, why can’t other women?”
from dairy farmers. dalo as well.

22 Islands Business, March 2021