A Vanuatu seasonal worker, who completed his term in New Zealand, is using skills he learnt to develop his own pepper farm
Vanua Tamata of Malo worked on a farm which specializes in grapes under the Recognised Seasonal Employment (RSE) scheme.
“I learned everything there was to learn about grapes from nursery to planting to pruning to harvesting”, Tamata said.
“I became convinced that I could take RSE to Malo by creating an employment opportunity for my immediate family to train my five sons to use the very skills I gained from working on grapes to plant pepper instead. I showed them that RSE is here in the ground”, he added.
Tamata has over 500 pepper plants that were flowering off-season last December.
The peak season is in June.
Director of Agriculture and Rural Development, Antoine Ravo said what Tamata has achieved is what other returnees from either New Zealand and Australia should try to do.
What the Government wants to see is for workers to set up their own businesses to provide employment opportunities for young people to work for them while they manage the businesses.
Ravo has encouraged returnees to seek advice from the Agriculture Field Assistants on how they can start their own farms to plant high value crops that grow well on their islands.
Acting Commissioner of Labour John Tasso said workers must not see their employment under RSE or SWP as permanent jobs.
He said five yours should be the maximum number of years to work overseas.
Tasso encouraged all workers to reinvest their earnings in country to create more jobs for others.
Photo Vanuatu Department of Agriculture/Facebook
Tamata has plans to have his own pepper nursery and to increase the number of pepper plants to 1,200.
He sold over Vt1, 000 per kilo of harvested pepper at the local market in Luganville.
According to Ravo, the price for pepper in the Port Vila market is at least Vt4, 000 per kilo.