Farm binds Nukusere Youths

Submitted by Narayan24 on Tue, 06/23/2009 - 07:30

Romanu Delai has got a little less than two hours to travel to Navua Town from his village up in the highlands of the province of Namosi and the same amount of time to return home.

Usually when he makes the trip, which is a daily occurrence, the teenager pilots one of his fathers river punt and if not always, it is his favourite punt ‘Anytime’ which is one of the two river punts belonging to his father he takes.

Romanu is from Nukusere, a village of 34 households that arrestingly welcomes you as you turn a bend in the river after a tiresome boat ride from Navua Town.

A tourist stopover, Nukusere is not accessible by road and commands the bank of the river that also acts as border for Serua and Namosi Province.

Nukusere really is the ‘perfection of isolation’. A traveller’s relief after a whimsical boat ride up the Navua River.

To get to Nukusere, you will have to surrender your entire being at the mercy of the boat operators who ply their trade along this lucrative waterway.

Romanu is a full time boat operator and maneuvering the treacherous Navua River is his bread and butter.

A feat he carries out everyday, Romanu makes the run twice a day and if business is good, four times along a river system famous for its beauty and the breathtaking Namosi gorge.

A song sung by an 80’s string band the Cripples Serenaders describes the splendour of travelling by water taxi along the Navua River.

True to every word, the song portrays the fauna and flora along the banks of the river as it meanders upwards to the interior of Namosi.

For Romanu these features of the Navua River are his source of income; the priceless views that tourist from around the world pay him to get to.

But the shy lad has now decided to become a part time boat operator and join his peers in the village who have decided to seriously pursue farming as a source of income.

What started as casual talk soon eventuated into reality when Agriculture Extension Officer Ilisoni Banuve visited the outlying village in the Tikina of Wainikoroiluva.

Soil is abundant and fertile up in the highlands and never has it been fully exploited a misdeed attributed to the difficulties in accessing the village and the markets for their produce.

“While tourism is our main source of income, villagers on the other hand have made an effort to try and farm semi commercially and the produce from these farms are transported down to Navua for export or for the local market,