Potato Import Substitution, Grassroots Governance and Rural Shops, I'taukei Defined, Thai-Poosam

N0039. POTATOES IN FIJI'S LITTLE ISRAEL. When Jews set up kibbutz (agricultural villages) in British Palestine from  the early 20th century until the 1950s, they turned land only fit for grazing into highly profitable farms.  In a smaller way this is what is happening at Tadravula near Seaqaqa in Vanua Levu.

There 1,600 acres of land, previously owned by the then Native Lands District Commission that had been idle for 20 years, is being turned into a large integrated vegetable and fruit farm that will produce potatoes as its major crop. The farm is being operated by an Australian company Farm 2 UFresh Fiji Limited that so far has sunk $2 million into the project.

Managing director Aaron Sharma said they are planting 25 acres of potatoes every week and will soon harvest the same amount in a sustainable system to ensure continuous supply. Sharma hopes to harvest more than one million kilograms in a year.

The farm is seen as a major player for import substitution, and part of government's intention to ensure that all available idle land is brought into production.

N0040. RURAL SHOPS,  many little more than stores serving only one village, require a licence to open, and the price of licences has gone from $30 a few years back to $200 today. 

During a talanoa session with the PM last week villagers in Veinuqa, Namosi, complained this was too much but all their complaints had fallen on deaf ears.  They'd merely been told the $200 now covered all essential services such as the National Fire Authority. It didn't seem to matter that a fire engine could not get to the village and even if it could the whole village would be in flames before it arrived.

The PM has asked the Commissioner Central and the Provincial Development permanent secretary to look into the matter with the authorities concerned. The villagers hope to open a shop in the near future. -- Based on 2011, No:0071 /MOI.

N0041. ITAUKEI MUST DEFINE THEMSELVES.  Institute of Indigenous Studies CEO Emitai Boladuadua has called on itaukei to be educated in their history, culture and language or run the risk that "others will define who we are and what we are ...  We have continually seen ourselves as others did. We have yielded and ceded to them the authority as well as the legitimacy to define us. We need to act now [to change this], he said, drawing particular attention to the need to reinforce the i'taukei worldwide view about the centrality of relationship and reciprocal obligations. Head of the Institute's Academic Unit, former USP university lecturer and deputy PM in the short-lived Chaudhry government, Dr Tupeni Baba said: “We need to repair and rediscover our place in our land. We cannot change the past. however, we can correct and repair the damage that has been done to our culture and identity.”

N0042.VAARSHIKA THAIPOOSAM THIRUNAAL. Thousands of Hindu devotees  gathered at the Sri Siva Subramanya Swamy Temple in Nadi to celebrate the 85th annual Vaarshika Thaipoosam Thirunaal yesterday. The ten-day celebration is expected to attract devotees from around the country and from abroad. People of all races and religions are welcome to take part.

Vaarshik Thai-Poosam Thirunaal is a time of fasting and meditation when devotees show their respect for the Hindu god of war, Subramaniam, who symbolises the victory of good over evil. The festival takes place during the 10th month of the Tamil calendar, which is called Thai and on the day the full moon passes in front of the star, Poosam.

Devotees carry the karvadi (a burden in which a load is tied to the ends of a pole and carried over the shoulders) but many have gone beyond the simple burden and in return for a blessing, they pin themselves with silver needles, long metal spikes and fish hooks. A Thai-Poosam devotee purifies himself by months of a vegetarian diet, and abstinence from alcohol, cigarettes, sexual activities and other forms of contamination. Only after the prayers, does he return to a normal life.