Yesterday marked a turning point for our farm, our first commercial sale of cassava to Agromarketing! Up to this point all our crop sales have been small, mostly to local markets. We sold 3190 kg of cassava at $0.50 per kg for a total of $1595.00. We have probably another 6 tons in the ground so we’re hoping that Agro-marketing will be back in a couple of weeks for another 3 tons.
The Agricultural Marketing Authority (Agromarketing) is a statutory organisation of the Fiji Government with its core role of finding the markets for all agricultural products in Fiji. Agromarketing’s goal is to improve the economic well being of rural dwellers in the remote areas by making the market accessible to them. As a new farm its been challenging to get on Agromarketing’s list of farms that they purchase from. On our island there is only one Agromarketing branch based in Savusavu and they travel all over our island purchasing produce. There is plans to open another branch in Nabouwalu which will make it easier for farmers at our end of the island.
We hired a crew of 7 guys to help Arthur and Charlie dig up the cassava. Arthur’s brother John and nephew Henry also came to help. It took most of the day to pull the plants. Agromarketing arrived in the mid afternoon to weigh and load 72 bags of cassava. Most of the bags weighed about 45kg. Today we’ve collected a couple of bags of cassava that was too skinny for sale so that we can peal and freeze these for our own consumption.
July 6, 2017
Hi Karen,
I haven’t replied to your blog notes for awhile, but do find them very interesting. Harvesting cassava in such large quantities and root sizes must have been very rewarding for you as farmers to be able to sell the produce and benefit from it. You had an article on your chickens awhile ago too , but I don’t remember the specifics. You had to fence them up in order to keep them safe., is all I remember at the moment.
I was away for 2 1/2 weeks on holidays visiting family in Alberta and celebrating my oldest daughter’s 50th birthday in Tofino. Had a great time, but now it’s back to work at home, keeping the garden, greenhouses and yard up to snuff and watering. Not much time for quilting at this point, unless it is a rainy day! . Have you been able to set up your quilting room yet, or too busy getting the farm started?
Bye for now
Dorothy
July 6, 2017
Good to hear from you Dorothy, sounds like you’re busy with the garden much like me. I’m still dreaming about my sewing room, maybe one day soon.